Credit: “The Gerrymander” Boston Gazette March 26, 1812. Each state legislature redistricts their state into the appropriate numbers of congressional districts, with the goal of making sure that each district has very close to the same population as the other districts. In Spain, they are constitutionally fixed since 1978. Or they may draw strangely shaped districts to split opposition votes or combine the votes of the party in power. As nouns the difference between reapportionment and gerrymandering is that reapportionment is the act of reapportioning; a second or subsequent apportionment while gerrymandering is (politics) the practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party. Countries such as the U.K., Australia, Canada and most of those in Europe have transferred responsibility for defining constituency boundaries to neutral or cross-party bodies. The term gerrymander typically refers to the creation of electoral districts that have bizarre shapes in order to condition the outcome of an election. How to use gerrymandering … Gerrymandering has been addressed by both Congress and the Supreme Court: In 1842, Congress passed the Reapportionment Act, which required congressional districts to be contiguous and compact. gerrymander. As a verb gerrymandering is BIBLIOGRAPHY. Sometimes, these borders are designed to split the votes of ethnic, racial, religious, or other class groups. By Andrew Prokop Jun 27, 2019, 11:40am EDT Gerrymandering definition: Gerrymandering is the act of altering political boundaries in order to give an unfair... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples The purpose of gerrymandering is to grant one party power over another by creating districts that hold dense concentrations of voters who are favorable to their policies. the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible. To change the boundaries of legislative districts to favor one party over another. One of the congressional districts was said to be shaped like a salamander, to which one Federalist reportedly said: No, it’s a gerrymander. The gerrymander is not produced by the iniquity of parties, it is the outcome of the district system. Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012. From the Cambridge English Corpus In contrast, if local boundaries are respected, levels of malapportionment increase, while gerrymandering becomes more difficult to accomplish. "Gerrymander" is a weird word, it's understandable to wonder how it has become such a staple of the political lexicon. How Do You Spell Chanukah (Or Is It Hanukkah)? Under such a system all unfairness would disappear, and the gerrymander would be impossible. What do you think gerrymander means? Gerrymandering. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins to subject (a state, county, etc.) Consequently, every apportionment act involves more or less of the gerrymander. Le terme gerrymander s'inspire d'Elbridge Gerry, gouverneur démocrate-républicain de l'État du Massachusetts de 1810 à 1812.. Il existe peu de cas de gerrymandering dans l'histoire du Québec. Interested in finding out more uniquely political concepts? To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage in elections. Let’s start with the basic definition, explore the history, and review the applications in today’s climate. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Gerrymandering occurs when voting districts are redrawn to benefit one party over another in elections, forcing the other side to “waste” votes. We Asked, You Answered. Soon, newspapers were printing editorial cartoons with the term gerrymander, and the word became commonly known. The term gerrymandering came to be thanks to Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812. If your language skills aren’t already top-notch, then this vocab quiz can get you up to speed! Gerrymandering can take on a few different forms. Gerrymandering is the practice of dividing election districts to give special advantages to one group and usually to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the opposition’s voting strength in the fewest districts possible. Due to the perceived issues associated with gerrymandering and its effect on competitive elections and democratic accountability, numerous countries have enacted reforms making the practice either more difficult or less effective. Elections may be nominally free, but governments engage in extensive gerrymandering, manipulation of voter registration and harassment of opposition parties. to divide the constituencies of (a voting area) so as to give one party an unfair advantage, to manipulate or adapt to one's advantage, Proportional Representation Applied To Party Government. Politics is full of all different types of moves and manipulation to win. Gerrymander definition is - the act or method of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is an on-going feature of American politics, one likely to figure prominently over the next year as new congressional boundaries are drawn following the national census. Technically, gerrymandering is illegal, but it’s hard to prove. Once every ten years, following the U.S. census, the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are reapportioned based on the population of each state, relative to other states. In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that manipulating district borders for political advantage is unconstitutional. Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilutes the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). Gerrymandering is obviously a culprit, but so too, it would appear, is clustering. Gerrymander definition: to divide the constituencies of (a voting area) so as to give one party an unfair... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Go check out examples of political jargon. Find more opposite words at wordhippo.com! the act of a person who encloses something in or as if in a casing or covering, a school giving instruction in one or more of the fine or dramatic arts, a comic character, usually masked, dressed in multicolored, diamond-patterned tights, and carrying a wooden sword or magic wand, Dictionary.com Unabridged AP US Government and Politics Prediction. ‘This is a government that blatantly indulged in open gerrymander, for example the re-allocation of defence force votes among surrounding marginal seats.’ ‘He said the Government's electoral reforms would create a gerrymander, where electoral boundaries are created to give one party an advantage.’ Use gerrymander in a sentence: Think of an example of gerrymander in current events: Find an image of gerrymander. All rights reserved. If you don't, I shall give the documents in the gerrymander affair to the papers the day after you fail. Gerrymander (v) To divide or arrange (a territorial unit) into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over the other. Gerrymandering -- drawing political boundaries to give your party a numeric advantage over an opposing party -- is a difficult process to explain. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020, Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition The origin of the term gerrymander dates back to the early 1800s in Massachusetts. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition The first known usage of the … The Dictionary.com Word Of The Year For 2020 Is …. The Supreme Court just said federal courts can’t stop partisan gerrymandering It was a 5-4 ruling, with the conservatives in the majority. The excess vote method concentrates the voting power of the opposite party into very few districts, meaning the party's overall influence is reduced. That is, Americans more than in past generations live in communities and … Gerrymandering in the United States has been used to increase the power of a political party. “Affect” vs. “Effect”: Use The Correct Word Every Time. Here's what you need to know about gerrymandering, the word you're hearing so much about today. How to use gerrymander in a sentence. Typically, the dominant party in a state legislature (which is responsible for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts) will try to concentrate the opposing party's strength in as few districts as possible, while giving itself likely majorities in as many districts as possible. Gerrymandering is the act of redrawing the lines of a congressional district to give one political party a voting advantage over another. to a gerrymander. The three types of gerrymandering are excess vote, wasted vote and stacked. (As the population shifts from one part of the country to another, some states will gain representatives while others lose them.) It was from this incident that the word "gerrymander," so often heard in politics in these days, took its name. Gerrymandering is the act of drawing congressional, state legislative or other political boundaries to favor a political party or one particular candidate for elected office. Gerrymandering is the act of redrawing the lines of a congressional district to give one political party a voting advantage over another. Gerrymandering. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that districts must and have reasonable borders and must represent the population appropriately. Fun Fact Definition The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the federal courts cannot decide a question with momentous political consequences: Whether congressional district maps in … Gerrymandering is just one of the tools used by governments to give their parties a leg up against the competition. What Is The Difference Between “It’s” And “Its”? Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. An antonym for gerrymandering is de-gerrymandering. While both political parties deny that they gerrymander, it does tend to happen; and after every redistricting effort, the courts hear numerous cases of alleged gerrymandering. “Crow” vs. “Raven”: Do You Know The Difference? Why Do “Left” And “Right” Mean Liberal And Conservative? gerrymander: 1 v divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts Type of: divide , part , separate come apart n an act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage) Type of: cheat , cheating a deception for profit to yourself As mentioned above, in a gerrymander of a state in which the vote is roughly evenly split between parties, many of the supporters of the victim party are crammed into a few districts that they win overwhelmingly, and the remaining supporters are spread across districts that they lose by small margins. gerrymander something to change the size and borders of an area for voting in order to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election The city had been gerrymandered so … [ ( jer-ee-man-duhr) ] To change the boundaries of legislative districts to favor one party over another. How to Interpret a Correlation Coefficient r, How to Translate a Website with Google Translate. Gerrymandering definition 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. After every census, many redistricting plans are challenged in the courts, often with the minority party accusing the majority party of political gerrymandering or a special interest group accusing the government of racial gerrymandering. The controlling party may try to force the opposition party into as few districts as possible. The word is a combination of the words Gerry, for the state's governor, Elbridge Gerry, and salamander, as a particular electoral district was jokingly said to be shaped like a lizard. The Most Insincere Compliments And What To Say Instead. Technically, gerrymandering is illegal, but it’s hard to prove. The districts are so badly gerrymandered that a challenger can't win. During his tenure, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted his state to overwhelmingly benefit his party (the Republicans), much to the dismay of the opposition party (the Federalists). Typically, the dominant party in a state legislature (which is responsible for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts) will try to concentrate the opposing party's strength in as few districts as possible, while giving itself likely majorities in as many districts as possible. Because a single party almost always controls a state legislature, of course it would be in that party’s best interest to try to draw the district lines so their party will win or retain more seats in the House of Representatives than the opposition party. to change the borders of an area in order to increase the number of people within that area who will vote for a particular party or person: The Prime Minister tried to gerrymander the recent elections in two ways. Describe 2020 In Just One Word? Définition. 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