Gerrymandering . Click .
Gerrymandering – Creative Human Bias Practice .
Gerrymandering is a creative human bias practice , that affects
the political path of a democracy directly . Second only to election .
It is the reason why there is a difference between the electoral
vote & the popular vote .
While the popular vote indicates the nominee that won the majority
vote , the electoral vote decides who won the elections .
Gerrymandering – Definition .
The practice of manipulating electoral districts’s boundaries , in
order to establish electoral advantage for a certain political party
& / protect incumbents .
The law .
In the U.S.A. electoral districts change , usually , every 10 years ,
following the changes in demographics , pointed by the
decennial census .
The idea is simple . I’ll use the House of Representatives to explain .
A law from 1911 , set the number of representatives in the House
@ 435 ( the law realized only @ 1913 ) .
Then , 1 representative per 30,000 people ; 2010 – 1 representative
per 700,000 people .
The Supreme Court created the guideline for states with more than
1 representative . Based on the constitution’s ” By the people ” , each
electoral district in the state must have nearly identical population .
The state legislature is responsible for updating the electoral districts
& the state governor signs them into law .
The eponym .
Even though there is evidence that Gerrymandering was practiced
in 1788 , the term was coined 1n 1812 .
Elbridge Gerry was the 5th Vice President of The U.S.A. , but before
becoming the Vice President , he was elected , twice , as the 9th
governor of Massachusetts .
The Creative Human Bias .
During his 2nd term in office , the MA legislature approved new state
senate districts . It was clear that the districts boundaries were manipulated ,
so the Republican controlled legislature was trying to enhance the control
of the Republican party over state & national offices .
Governor Gerry signed the bill into a law .
The 2nd part of the eponym comes from the word : Salamander .
The updated electoral districts map had a clear image of a Salamander .
It was first published as a political cartoon on the Boston Gazette @
3 – 26 / 1812 .
Here you can see how creative were those legislators .
After the following election in MA , the Republican party maintained
it’s control over the state senate , but Elbridge Gerry lost the governorship
& went to D.C. , to become James Madison’s Vice President .