A Brief History
On March 26, 1812, the first use of the term “gerrymander” appeared in the Boston-Gazette in conjunction with a political cartoon making fun of the ridiculous boundaries drawn for new Massachusetts Senate election districts. The name came from the name of the governor, Elbridge Gerry and the likeness of a salamander that a district resembled.
Digging Deeper
The idea behind gerrymandering is to create voting precincts or districts that maximize the chance of a certain political party to have representatives elected. Minority parties’ populations are split up to avoid any one or more places where they might have a majority, or alternately, clumping many of those voters together to minimize their electoral power.
The subject today is contentious, and the most gerrymandered states favor Republicans except Maryland. Sadly, many measures to reduce or eliminate gerrymandering have been undermined by unscrupulous politicians.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Should gerrymandering be eliminated?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Schafer, Robert. Resolving Gerrymandering: A Manageable Standard. American Bar Association, 2022.
Seabrook, Nick. One Person, One Vote: A Surprising History of Gerrymandering in America. Pantheon, 2022.
