What is this? Pennsylvania’s Seventh Congressional District

Legislative Redistricting Controls the boundary lines for state electoral districts as well as those for U.S. Representatives Redistricting is controlled by the state government not at all by the federal government. Done every ten (10) years, in the year after a census is conducted – 2001, 2011, 2021, etc. Districts must be contiguous (all one connected territory) and must have equal populations How does redistricting become “gerrymandered”? It occurs when one political party dominates both chambers of the legislature and the executive branch. If the parties agree to manipulate boundary lines to protect their members from competitive elections.

Gerrymandering Strategies Packing: get as many members of one party into only one (or a few) districts so that they can’t influence the outcome of many elections Cracking: divide a concentration of members of one party into many districts so that they increase the influence of those party members into many electoral districts

Gerrymandering What does gerrymandering try to do? What two limitations are there on creating a legislative district? Why is gerrymandering bad for voters? Why do political parties like it?

Types of Primaries (Decided by the legislature of each state, so changing this requires your state to change its laws.) Open: Anyone can vote in any party’s primary. Some states allow you to vote in more than one party’s primary, others allow you to choose the one party primary you want to vote in on election day. Closed: You can only vote in the primary of the party with which you’re registered. (You can change your party registration as many times as you want, but you must plan ahead and fill-out new registration forms each time.)

Read: “The Divide Gets Wider” (Create and complete a table like the one below.) Causes of PolarizationWhat can you do to try to reduce it? Clearly, but BRIEFLY, describe cause #1. Your idea(s) for what actions you can take to have a positive effect to change this. Clearly, but BRIEFLY, describe cause #2. Your idea(s) for what actions you can take to have a positive effect to change this. Clearly, but BRIEFLY, describe cause #3. Your idea(s) for what actions you can take to have a positive effect to change this. Clearly, but BRIEFLY, describe cause #4. Your idea(s) for what actions you can take to have a positive effect to change this.

Causes of PolarizationWhat can you do to try to reduce it? Hyperpartisan electorial districts, due to gerrymandering. ALWAYS VOTE AND GET WORK TO GET OTHERS TO VOTE; Work to eliminate gerrymandering (promote nonpartisan redistricting); Register with the dominant party if in a gerrymandered district; Closed primaries (and these are dominated by more extreme liberals and extreme conservatives) VOTE IN PRIMARIES; Work to get open primaries in your state; Re-register with different parties depending on who I want to vote for in the primaries; Try to vote for moderate candidates when possible Polarized media – that portray politics in more confrontational terms. (This especially appeals the more extreme liberals & extreme conservatives that vote more in closed primaries.) Try to keep informed from a variety of news sources from different viewpoints; Support more non-biased media sources; Try to focus on issues and ignore opinion and less relevant “controversies”; Make sure your own “political talk” remains polite The influence of massive fund raising from the wealthy and special interest groups. Pay attention to who politicians get money from; Donate to causes you believe in; support campaign finance laws to limit donations; Ignore campaign commercials