US Politics | Gerrymandering in the 21st Century

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Gerrymandering is a scourge on US politics that sees both Republicans and Democrats redraw administrative voting boundaries to benefit their election chances with partisan zeal. And what’s more, it’s completely legal. Here’s how and why the people at the top do it, and what you can do to lobby against it.

Democracy is genuinely hard. For the average person, it is difficult to stay informed on how the system works and what is going on in the world without feeling overwhelmed or hitting a point of fatigue. However, things are fundamentally different now than they were only a few years ago and these changes are here to stay: technology and big data have created unprecedented and unforeseen challenges to the way we govern. 

Rapid advancement in automation and computing technology in recent decades has given us an incredible level of efficiency and precision at a level of detail that has never been possible before. Satellites are increasingly more advanced and geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology is continually being improved. Data, and the development of accurate customer preference profiles play an increasing role not only in advertising for the products we buy, but also in political ad targeting and in the media that we consume. Through online preference profiles, private companies can create detailed databases and maps. Lawmakers can take advantage of this seemingly unlimited access to information and use preference profiles at the state level to redraw administrative boundaries to favor one political party over another. This is the practice of gerrymandering, and it is completely legal.

Trying to game the political system and to tip the odds in your favor dates back to the birth of our republic. In 1788, Patrick Henry—the famous founding father who rallied the Virginians to send troops to the War of Independence by declaring, “Give me liberty or give me death!”—redrew Virginia’s fifth congressional district’s boundaries in an unsuccessful attempt to keep James Madison out of the US House of Representatives.

Starting around 2010, redistricting efforts led by the Republican State Leadership Committee created a program called the Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP), which targeted key states and key districts that—with the right type of redistricting—could allow Republicans to take control of those state legislatures. The Republicans in these areas were either the minority party, or they had a slight majority. But with the assistance of the REDMAP program, they could redraw the maps breaking up areas with a Democratic majority and regrouping them in small segments to areas with a Republican majority, making them the minority party. This allowed Republicans to increase their governing majorities to maintain control in these state legislatures. It is important to remember, that redistricting maps are drawn at the state level, and in most states it is done by whichever party controls the state legislature. But Republicans aren’t the only ones doing it; gerrymandering is a bipartisan issue that needs to be addressed. Democrats from Maryland’s General Assembly hold a veto proof majority and continue to allow for unfair redistricting practices that result in unfair elections. If we turn a blind eye to this issue, there is no turning back. 

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Cook County, Illinois, 4th Congressional district. Image from the United States Department of the Interior.

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Solano County, California, 10th Congressional District. Image form the United States Department of the Interior.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2004 observed that the legal redistricting along party preference or likely intent to vote limits competition of electoral races. In the 2016 election, analysts wrote that only 40 of 435 seats in the House of Representatives were considered competitive. While the Cook Political Institute estimated that around 92 seats were competitive in the 2018 midterm elections (of which 18 Democratic and 20 Republican were “likely” to win). Less competitive races mean that the same ideas and solutions will continue to control politics both at the national and state level.  

What Can We Do? 

Currently, only eight states have independent commissions set up that provide nonpartisan redistricting. Creating action through ballot initiatives at the state level to give the power of redistricting to independent commissions is one avenue available in 26 states and there are movements in many states to do this. 

More importantly though, people need to be informed on the issues and how they can let their congressional leaders at the state and federal levels know that this is not acceptable. Technology gives us the key for this; it has never been easier to become informed, share that information and to interact with our lawmakers. Americans living abroad need to know their state’s election rules, and if they are able to vote for state level offices while living outside of the country. Some allow it, while others do not. 

Voting is the minimal first step in a democratic country. There are a lot more, harder steps in order to ensure that we remain a democratic country. For our government to function as it should, to serve its citizens as it should, we need to call out atrocities to justice whenever, wherever we see them. We cannot allow missteps from our own party to go unpunished just because it may momentarily favor our short term political goals. 

Taking Action

If you’d like to get involved, learn more about US policy or contact your representatives, the following websites are a good starting point, providing contact information for your federal representatives as well as information on policy, legislation, election and voting information. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and is not an endorsement of any kind.

  • 270towin.com has an online interactive map that provides contact information, including Twitter and Facebook accounts, for each state’s US representatives and senators as well as its governor.
  • Govtrack.us provides not only contact information for each US senator and representative, but also provides a map of congressional districts, a list of committee memberships, enacted legislation, bills sponsored and voting records.
  • Countable.us is a website that summarizes bills, tracks legislation in the House and the Senate and lets you know how your congress members voted.
  • Ballotpedia.org provides information on a wide variety of political topics, including policy at the federal and state levels, SCOTUS cases and elections on the federal and state levels.
  • For questions about voting from abroad you can find information at the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP.gov) as well as at VotefromAbroad.org.

7 Redistricting Facts

  1. Gerrymandering is named after Elbridge Gerry, Governor of Massachusetts in 1812 who signed a bill allowing for his party to redraw legislative districts heavily in its favor. A political cartoon attributed to Elkanah Tisdale compared the shape of a heavily redrawn district in the Boston area to a mythological salamander—and the term was coined.
  2. The number of representatives each state has is determined by population, however, unlike Spain, the US does not have proportional representation at the federal level and it is rare at the lower levels of government.
  3. There are seven states that do not currently have redistricting issues because they have only one representative: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.
  4. For states with more than one representative, redistricting is required by law to account for population shifts within the state as well as to add or remove congressional districts when necessary. 
  5. The number of seats in the House of Representatives is capped at 435. The minimum each state can have is one representative and the maximum is one representative for every 30,000 persons. If a state's population decreases enough it can lose representatives at the federal level. 
  6. Redistricting generally occurs after each census, however there is no law preventing states from redrawing district lines at any time. (Then next census is in 2020.)
  7. On June 27, 2019, in a 5-4 decision along ideological lines in the Rucho v. Common Cause case, the US Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts cannot be limited by federal courts, bringing pending federal court litigation on gerrymandering in MD, MI, NC, OH, and WI to a close.

Do you know how your home state handles redistricting? You can find out at the Brennan Center for Justice's 50 State Guide to Redistricting.

This article marks the first in our new series on US politics, where we delve deep into the issues defining the land of the free in the run up to next year’s crucial election. Keep an eye out for real insight into the defining issues of our times, brought to you from members of the Barcelona chapter of Democrats Abroad, a coalition of American expats with the goal of mobilizing the overseas vote.

Harry Edelman is a contributor to the Barcelona Metropolitan covering American political topics. He recently received a M.P.S. in Emergency and Disaster Management from the Georgetown University. He previously served as a logistics officer for the US Army stationed in Germany. He is now working as the Director for Youth Outreach focusing on voter engagement and participation for the Barcelona Chapter of Democrats Abroad.