Class Notes- SADIQ'sir

GERRYMANDERING : Types & Significance

Gerrymandering is the practice of dividing or arranging a

territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives
one political party an unfair advantage in elections . It is
a deliberate manipulation of spatial boundaries to provide
a political advantage to a particular group
(caste/religion). Gerrymandering links the political and
the geographic in a very specific and material manner.

Origin:The concept of Gerrymandering is American in

origin. The term was first used to describe the 1812
creation of districts in Massachusetts that were designed
to ensure a Republican majority over Federalists in the
state legislature. Following Governor
Elbridge Gerry’s approval of the bill
that created the districts, a
contemporary cartoonist observed that
the shape of the districts resembled a
salamander.

Responding to this comment, Boston

Gazette editor Benjamin Russell, a Governor Elbridge Gerry
Federalist, noted derisively that the
district map should be called a “gerrymander.” The term
gerrymandering has since been used to describe the
intentional distortion of electorate boundaries for political
gain.
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This political cartoon which appeared for first time in the Boston Gazette newspaper on
March 26, 1812 depicts a state senate district in Essex County as a strange animal with
claws, wings and a dragon-type head, satirizing the district's odd shape.

In territorially based representative democracies,

Gerrymandering is a powerful instrument expressed in
multiple ways.

A simple form of gerrymandering is the failing to

redistrict as the population changes. Another type,
opponent concentration or excess vote
gerrymandering, occurs when boundaries are drawn so
that one group is concentrated in the fewest number of
districts so that this group may win there while its
 Class Notes- SADIQ'sir

influence in other districts is restricted or negated. The

complement to this, opponent dispersion or wasted
vote gerrymandering, occurs when boundaries are
drawn to split up or disperse a concentration of voters
into several districts with the intention of preventing
them from electing a candidate. An additional method,
stacked gerrymandering, is intended to delineate
boundaries in a meandering manner that encloses
pockets of strength while avoiding areas of weakness.

Geographers and other researchers have investigated

many issues involving gerrymandering. Geographers
have noted that the nature of territorially based
representation is such that the location of district
boundaries can have a significant impact on election
outcomes and, by extension, can also shape government
policy and people’s lives. Who these outcomes affect and
how they affect them, both positively and negatively, is a
point of much research.

The simultaneous empowerment of one group and

disempowerment of another group is inherent to
gerrymandering and is a compelling aspect of this
mechanism.

The power and extent of gerrymandering cannot be

ignored. Indeed, nearly all voters, regardless of race,
political affiliation, or location, have been affected by
gerrymandering.