Gerrymandering United States House of Representatives and...

Michael Effiom Prof. S. Sharifan Govt 2302-73058 March 4, 2013 Gerrymandering The main purpose of gerrymandering is to increase the number of legislative seats that can be won by the political party which is in charge of redrawing the district boundaries during that period of time, and to create â€Å"safe† seats for the party’s incumbent legislators which are seats in which the incumbent will always win re-election. Gerrymandering is the redrawing of election district boundaries to give an electoral advantage to a particular candidate or party. It has been recognized as a part of the American political landscape since 1812. The term derives from a redrawing of US Representative districts in Massachusetts before the 1812 elections, when†¦show more content†¦An effective way of combating gerrymandering is to follow the example of California and enact something similar to prop.11 which will give the responsibility of redrawing the district line to independent non-partisan groups. This will remove partisan machinations from the drawing proc ess and remove the unfair advantage that incumbents have over challengers to their seats. Sources Cited * Humphreys. M. 2009. â€Å"Can compactness constrain the Gerrymander?† http://www.columbia.edu/~mh2245/papers1/gerry.pdf * Smith, Kieth. On Gerrymandering and Its Effects. Web log post. Political Science at University of the Pacific. Pacificpoliticalscience.wordpress.com, 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. lt;http://pacificpoliticalscience.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/on-gerrymandering-and-its-effects/gt;. * Tolson, Franita, Partisan Gerrymandering as a Safeguard of Federalism (December 19, 2010). 2010 Utah Law Review 859 (2010); FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 470. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1674507 * Michael A. Hess,Beyond Justiciability: Political Gerrymandering after Davis v. Bandemer, 9 CampbellL. 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