reapportionment, redistricting & gerrymandering Unit 6 US Congress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh4qAJDUOcc

EQ #2: How does reapportionment, redistricting & Gerrymandering effect membership in the House of Representatives?

Map of US by the 435 districts of HOR!

Q1: what does the US Constitution mandate for the HOR? Who does this? For a full state by state count of US population The US Census bureau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUCnb5_HZc0

Q2: Define Reapportionment. What may be its result? The distribution of 435 seats for the House of Representatives across the 50 states based on population. Some states may gain representation due to a rising population, and some will lose representation due to a decrease in their state population.

Q3: Define Redistricting. Who is in charge of the process Q3: Define Redistricting. Who is in charge of the process? What might they try and do? The process of erasing the old district lines and drawing new district lines based on the census count for all 50 states. The majority party in each state legislature They may try and rig the maps and draw the new districts in a way that gives their party an unfair advantage politically.

Q4: Define Gerrymandering. Who started this process? The manipulation of electoral district lines in each state by that state government’s majority party to gain an advantage in voting against the opposition/minority party. The governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, who signed off on a map in his state that gave his party, the Democratic-Republican party, an advantage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BNJiUu-1E8

Q5: How did each Act or Case below affect the practice of Gerrymandering? Reapportionment Act of 1842: act by Congress requiring congressional districts to be contiguous (sharing a common border; touching) and compact. Wesberry v. Sanders, 1962 Supreme Court case: districts must follow the principle of "one man, one vote" (all roughly equal in population) and have fair borders and an appropriate population mixture. (see also Baker v. Carr) Supreme Court ruling in 1985: manipulating district borders to give an advantage to one political party was unconstitutional.

Q6: List & explain the three main techniques of gerrymandering: a. Packing: taking the voting blocks of the minority party and packing them in a few districts, but making the rest of the districts all be in favor of majority party b. Cracking: cracking the voting blocks of opposition party and diluting their vote into districts made up of mostly majority residences and voters c. Stacking: drawing bizarre boundary lines bringing far away stretched out places into a district as a way of securing majority voters in that district https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcUDBgYodIE

Q7: When is the next census conducted? When must the report be ready by? 2020 Must be ready and sent off to each state legislature by April 1st, 2021

A B C

Gerrymandering exercise: 8. Circles 9. A 10. C 11. C 12. B 13. A = Packing because the circles have packed the square voters in one district while taking the rest B = example of Stacking, how one district totally encircles another, this is not contiguous and compact C = an example of Cracking do to circles diluting the squares and sprinkling a few of them in each district but not enough to have a majority in any district!

The Redistricting Game Go into google and type “the redistricting game” Click on the “redistricting game” Click “play the game” Start with playing mission game 1 and get a feel for how to create a district with roughly the same population in each Then play mission game 2 “partisan gerrymandering” and see if you can rig the districts to favor one party against the other Be ready to discuss some of your findings and experience from playing this game.