Surname 1
Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is a concept that describes the process of drawing political maps with
the aim of favoring one party or class of people. This phenomenon affords a political party a
majority of leadership positions in numerous districts, while the other party’s voting strength is
concentrated in only a few regions. This practice prevents equal representation of people from
different classes in power, hence the reason for illegalizing it.
According to Korte and Wolf, the Supreme Court’s ruling against the practice in 2015
aimed at removing partisan politics from political mapping. Notably, this practice obliterated the
core principle that gives electorate the power to choose their representatives. With
gerrymandering, politicians interfered with this right by dividing voters into districts that favored
them. Additionally, changing political boundaries destroyed the justified platform for equal
representation of every group in a particular population.
By redrawing political maps, gerrymandering makes elections unfair and inaccurate since
it alters the voting patterns of a region. Mostly, politicians change boundaries according to
political alliances and popularity. This way, they fragment the opposing party’s voters to ensure
that they remain in power. Notably, different districts have a varying number of voters, which
means that one party has an advantage over the other in the densely populated areas. As such, the
process does not promote fair and equal representation of people regardless of their political
affiliation.
