Blog Stage Five

How Gerrymandering Limits Our Voice

By Alyson Valdez

Have you ever asked yourself how significant your vote in politics really is? How much influence do we actually have when it comes to who becomes our leaders? There is one aspect affecting our current voting patterns, and that is gerrymandering - the manipulation of boundaries in favor of one party or another. Because of gerrymandering, we are limited to the delegates in our district (whom include and exclude certain voters) ultimately resulting in a bias and restricted vote.

Ideally, district populations should be approximately the same size so every vote matters, communities should stay together ensuring every voice is heard; and since populations shift and change, district lines should be redrawn every census. Although the lines are, in fact, recreated every census, they are not drawn to benefit the voter’s, rather the politicians who are drawing the lines. If we contrast North Dakota and Colorado, district lines vary drastically - this is because North Dakota is small enough to be defined as one district, whereas Colorado is large enough to split into 7 districts. This method makes sense if a state is large enough; however, the problem arises when politicians exclude certain voters by creating illogical districts, in order to improve their chances of winning. By doing so, the voters have no choice who represents their district, meaning politicians basically choose their voters instead of the citizens choosing their representatives. 

Furthermore, there are four techniques to gerrymandering: cracking, packing, kidnapping, and hijacking. If one party is more popular than the other among voters, a simple solution is to crack the district by ensuring there are more voters for a single party in each area. If the opposition is wider-spread on the map, politicians will pack similar voters into one district. Additionally, if a politician is competing for a popular incumbent’s seat, drawing the district line to exclude them (kidnapping/hijacking) is one way to increase their chances of winning. Politicians can even exclude, for example, minoirites from their district if they are not willing to work for their votes. Because of these methods, incumbents are 95% likely to be re-elected into the House and 80% in the Senate. Although gerrymandering works for the politicians, it is unfair manipulation, and it leaves the citizens with a weaker voice. 

The idea that politicians have the power, let alone the right, to organize voters to benefit their campaign seriously limits our voting voices, and our influence. Not everyone is being heard, and those who are might be limited to choices not in their favor. With that being said, it’s the responsibility of the government to exile gerrymandering and implement the short-lining method when dividing boundaries - this means using the shortest possible lines to evenly divide the districts. Furthermore, politicians should not have the right to manipulate their voters, otherwise, who is really choosing the people who lead us?