- Read the article and write 5 key takeaways
- Complete questions 1-4
- Write a 1-2 paragraph (detailed) summary
Changing the face of America: Howitwould look withoutgerrymandering
By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on02.03.16 Word Count898
In his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama called on lawmakers toreform the political system. To begin with, he urged politicians to stopgerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is the process of changing district boundaries in order to changeelection outcomes. Political parties are sometimes able to redraw district maps to improvethe number of congressional races their candidates are likely to win. Many peopleview gerrymandering as unfair andundemocratic.
"We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicianscan pick their voters and not the other way around," Obamasaid.
In most states, state lawmakers are responsible for drawing the district boundaries.Not only do those boundaries determine how many representatives the state sendsto Congress, but they can also strongly influence which candidates get elected. Forexample,
a party could redraw the boundaries of a district to exclude neighborhoods where itis unpopular, helping the party to win future elections. When one party is in control, itcan gerrymander the districts to help ensure it stays incontrol.
A Small ExampleOf A BiggerProblem
Take a look at the grids above, and imagine they represent a very tiny state of 50people. Thirty of them belong to the Blue Party, and 20 belong to the Red Party, with all of theBlues on one side of the state and the Reds on the other. The state has to be divided intofive districts. Each district will send one representative to the House to represent thepeople.
There are three Blues for every two Reds in the state, so you would think that three ofthe districts would be Blue and the other two would be Red. That’s what you get whenyou divide the districts vertically (see Grid 1). Suppose, though, that the Blue Party controlsthe state government, and it gets to decide how the lines are drawn.
Rather than draw districts vertically the party draws them horizontally, so that ineach district there are six Blues and four Reds. That’s what you see in Grid 2. Notice thatwith these boundaries, the Blues win all five districts, even though there are just as manyReds in the state as there were before. With the redistricts redrawn in Grid 3, the Reds wina majority of the districts even though they make up a minority of thestate’s
population. Redrawing the districts can dramatically change the outcomes of elections. That'sgerrymandering.
Flaunting TheirManipulations
Some lawmakers gerrymander more blatantly than others. Maryland's districts, drawnby Democrats, are one particularly bad example, and North Carolina's, drawnby Republicans, are another.Advocates of reform have proposed various solutions tothe problem over the years. In some states, redistricting is put in the hands of anindependent commission. In others, lengthy court battles are playing out to draw the districts morefairly.
A
fundamental problem with district-drawing still remains, though. As long as humansare drawing the lines, there is a danger that bias and self-interest will creep into theprocess. The alternative could be to simply let computers draw districts forus.
From a technological standpoint, computer-generated districts could be drawnwithout much difficulty. In his spare time, a software engineer in Massachusetts namedBrian Olson wrote a program to draw district lines. The program creates "optimallycompact" equal-population congressional districts in each state. In other words, it dividesdistricts based on the number and arrangement of people and ignores their politicalleanings.
Politicians Vs.Computer
To see what this looks like in practice, compare the map above of ourcurrent congressional districts (top) with one we stitched together from Olson's program(bottom).
There is a big difference, isn't there? Rather than a confusing snarl of interlockeddistricts, Olson's program created neat, trim boundaries that make sense. Below is howpoliticians in North Carolina and Pennsylvania drew their states' districts, compared to howOlson's program drewthem.
Programs like Olson's prioritize
compactness, ensuring that people in the same district are geographically close together. One of the telltale signs of gerrymandering is non-compact districts that squiggleand
squirm out in all different directions, evidence of lawmakers trying to bring distantvoters into a single district in order to achieve the political mix that best favors their party. Or,as Obama said, districts that let politicians pick their voters, rather than the other wayaround.
Legal RestrictionsRemain
The main obstacles to computer-generated redistricting are legal. Currently, the lawdoes not allow states to simply hand over the redistricting process to computers. Forstarters, the Voting Rights Act mandates that in some states, race needs to be a factor inredistricting to ensure that minority voters are represented in Congress. While this lawwas passed in order to empower minority voters, it can have the opposite effect as well,as maps that pack all minority voters into one district diminish their clout everywhere else.
In the end, the prospect of an algorithm drawing districts based on populationand compactness may be an improvement over our current system, where politicians drawthe boundaries that best serve their interests. The chances of this ever becoming realityare slim: It would require state legislators to voluntarily give up their redistricting powers toa computer program. And if there's anything lawmakers dislike, it's giving uppower.
Quiz
1Read the sentences from the section "Flaunting TheirManipulations."
Somelawmakersgerrymandermoreblatantlythanothers.Maryland'sdistricts,drawnbyDemocrats,areoneparticularlybadexample,andNorth Carolina's, drawn by Republicans, areanother.
Which word would CHANGE the meaning of the first sentence if it replaced"blatantly"?
(A)obviously
(B)boldly
(C)openly
(D)carefully
2Read the sentence from the section "Legal RestrictionsRemain."
Whilethislawwaspassedinordertoempowerminorityvoters,itcanhave the opposite effect as well, as maps that pack all minorityvotersinto one district diminish their clout everywhereelse.
Which answer choice has the CLOSEST meaning to "clout" in the selection above?
(A)empower
(B)minority
(C)opposite
(D)diminish
3Which of the following ideas is emphasized in the graphic "Gerrymandering,explained"?
(A)Election outcomes often depend on the number of people in eachparty, regardless ofdistricting.
(B)In the hypothetical scenario, blue wins more often than red dueto gerrymandering.
(C)Even if a party has a minority of voters, gerrymandering can cause thatparty to win an election.
(B)One of the telltale signs of gerrymandering is non-compact districtsthat squiggle and squirm out in all differentdirections...
(C)For starters, the Voting Rights Act mandates that in some states, raceneeds to be a factor in redistricting to ensure that minority voters are representedin Congress.
(D)In the end, the prospect of an algorithm drawing districts basedon population and compactness may be an improvement over ourcurrent system...