Miller, Nicholas. University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrieved 32706: http:research.umbc.edunmi

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Political Geography Geography of Elections
Miller, Nicholas. University of Maryland
Baltimore County Retrieved 3/27/06
http//research.umbc.edu/nmiller/POLI100/GERRYMAN
DER.JPG
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High Court Takes On Political MapmakingDecember
17, 2005 Page A9 THE MAIN EVENT The Supreme
Court re-entered a political thicket on Monday
when it decided to hear a case challenging a
redistricting plan in Texas. Protesters'
sign at anti-redistricting rally in 2003 plays on
name of Gov. Perry (R., Texas). The effort to
redraw congressional districts in Texas in 2003
was spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay, who was
recently forced to resign as House majority
leader after being indicted on money-laundering
charges. (He has denied wrongdoing.) The redrawn
map is credited with knocking four Democratic
incumbents out of office last year and increasing
the Republican Party's congressional delegation
by a net of six seats. The court case was brought
by Democratic Party officials and minority
groups, who argued that the Republicans had
unlawfully drawn the new map for partisan gain
and also disenfranchised minorities by
dismantling districts in which minorities had
more voting power. But the case also highlights
growing concerns that both political parties,
using powerful computers and demographic data,
are becoming increasingly adept at drawing
districts that will reliably elect their
candidates. That means less competition between
the parties, many experts believe, and increasing
polarization in Congress. Arguments in the case
won't be heard until March, so any ruling is
unlikely to affect the 2006 midterm elections.
However, if the court's action led to the
restoration of the old districts in Texas, that
could give Democrats a boost in 2008. Here's a
look at some of the issues involved Why do
states redraw congressional districts? Under a
1960s Supreme Court decision, states must draw
new districts of equal size every 10 years, based
on the decennial census, to ensure the principle
of "one person, one vote." The task is usually
left to state legislatures, which frequently
ignore geography and city or county boundaries
and draw bizarrely shaped districts that suit
their political interests. In the 1990s, a
separate Supreme Court decision found that the
1965 Voting Rights Act prohibits states from
drawing districts that dilute the strength of
minority groups. In a later decision, however,
the court also said that districts drawn on
racial lines could be challenged if they denied
white voters equal protection. The result is that
so-called gerrymandering -- the drawing of
irregularly shaped districts to suit political
purposes -- is allowed so long as it isn't done
intentionally to give an advantage to any racial
voting group and doesn't depart from the "one
person, one vote" standard. BY THE NUMBERS  
Read the editorial board's view. See a map of
Texas's redistricing, plus stats on House
races. What happened in Texas? Following the 2000
census, a three-judge federal court in Texas was
given the task of redistricting because a split
legislature couldn't agree on a redistricting
plan. But when Republicans took control of both
houses in 2002, they said the court's plan was
untenable because it gave too much power to
Democrats and called for an unusual second
redistricting. Can politics be taken out of the
process? Not completely, because drawing
congressional districts is an inherently
political act. But there are growing concerns
that the process has created too many safe havens
for incumbent politicians. In 2004, 97.8 of
congressional incumbents were re-elected, up from
88.3 in 1992. A few states are trying to change
the equation. Iowa has a nonpartisan
redistricting agency that drafts plans for the
legislature to consider. But it's unclear whether
that model can work in states that are less
homogenous. California's Republican governor,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, backed a ballot initiative
in November to have his state's districts drawn
by an independent commission similar to Iowa's
but with a panel composed of retired judges, but
that was rejected by voters. A similar measure in
Ohio was also rejected by voters last
month. --Compiled by Lauren Etter POINTS OF
VIEW "Tom DeLay and his corrupt cronies were
willing to sacrifice the voting rights of
millions of Texans to carry out a corrupt,
partisan, mid-decade redistricting
scheme." --Charles Soechting, chairman of the
Texas Democratic Party "The effort to deliver a
new congressional map was founded in the belief
that a history of gerrymandering efforts by
Democrats in Texas had resulted in an unfair
representation of Texas voters." --Kevin Madden,
spokesman for former House Majority Leader
DeLay "In the November elections, 153 California
congressional and legislative seats were up for
grabs, and not one changed parties -- that is not
a democracy. It is time to make our
representatives more responsive to the people who
elect them." --California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger "I think it's gone overboard. We
have such a manipulation of the democratic rules
of the game by people determined to stay in power
that it diminishes American democracy ...
." --Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution
FACTS Seven states don't have to draw
congressional districts because they qualify for
only one seat in the House Alaska, Delaware,
Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and
Wyoming. Of these, Montana has the largest
population, at 905,316, and Wyoming, the
smallest, at 495,304. The largest congressional
district by land area is the state of Alaska
571,951 square miles. The smallest is in New
York 10.3 square miles. The word 'gerrymander'
comes from Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, a
Democrat, who redrew district lines in an
odd-looking way in 1812. A painter looking at a
map of one district drew on it a head, wings and
claws and exclaimed 'That will do for a
salamander!' Newspaper editor Benjamin Russell
replied 'Better say a Gerrymander!' The average
population of a congressional district after the
2000 census was 646,952, more than triple the
193,167 average in 1900 and vs. 572,466 in
1990. Of 401 House incumbents who ran for
re-election in 2004, just seven were defeated.
Only 22 House contests were decided by a margin
of less than 10 percentage points. In the 2004
election, there were only 59 'split' districts --
where voters chose one party for president and
another for the House. That was just 14 of the
national total. In 1972, there were 192 split
districts.
Protesters' sign at anti-redistricting rally in
2003 plays on name of Gov. Perry (R., Texas).
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• Reapportionment
• Redistricting
• Gerrymandering
• Even population distribution
• Geographical compactness vs. fairness

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Retrieved 10/21/08 http//www.wnjpin.state.nj.us/
OneStopCareerCenter/LaborMarketInformation/lmi25/a
ppres/map03.gif
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Retrieved 3/27/06 www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2002/house
map2.htm
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Magruders American Government. Retrieved
3/27/06 http//www.phschool.com/atschool/Magruder
s/2001/internet_updates/images/chapter10_mississip
pi.jpg
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The Gerry-Mander (1812)
Miller, Nicholas. University of Maryland
Baltimore County Retrieved 3/27/06
http//research.umbc.edu/nmiller/POLI100/GERRYMAN
DER.JPG
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• Gerrymandering terminology
• Wasted vote technique (cracking)
• Excess vote technique (packing)

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Adrich Corporation. Retrieved 3/27/06
http//www.adrich.com/Opn2004/Oct04.1.gif
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Manifold. Retrieved 3/27/06 http//www.manifold.
net/products/mfd50pro/mfd50pro.html
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Morrill, Richard. 1981. Political Redistricting
and Geographic Theory. Association of American
Geographers. (p. 12)
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Delta Regional Authority. Retrieved 3/27/06
http//www.dra.gov/MAPS/MS/MSMAPSPopulation.php
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Mississippi Official and Statistical Register
2004-2008. Retrieved 3/27/06 http//www.sos.stat
e.ms.us/ed_pubs/BlueBook/2004-2008_bluebook.pdf
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Mississippi Official and Statistical Register
2004-2008. Retrieved 3/27/06 http//www.sos.stat
e.ms.us/ed_pubs/BlueBook/2004-2008_bluebook.pdf
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Mississippi Official and Statistical Register
2004-2008. Retrieved 3/27/06 http//www.sos.stat
e.ms.us/ed_pubs/BlueBook/2004-2008_bluebook.pdf
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National Popular Vote. Retrieved 10/20/08
http//www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/electoral
college.php
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CNN.com. Retrieved 10/20/08 http//www.cnn.com/EL
ECTION/2008/calculator/index.html
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Winner take all method vs. Congressional District
Method (Maine-Nebraska Method)
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Retrieved 10/20/08 http//www.nationalpopularvote
.com/index.php
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• Examples of arguments in favor of keeping the
  Electoral College
• Written into the Constitution
• Stick with the devil you know
• Reinforces the two party system its relative
  stability
• Sudden death of a candidate
• Potentially enhances power of minority vote