In light of the recent Supreme Court of the United States decision (Louisiana v. Callais) which weakens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, this old overview of gerrymandering needs to be reviewed again as a refresher as to what will be likely taking in place in areas across the U.S. The following is one of the classic maps made by a social media user named “datastuffplus” (and contextualized in more blunt terms):
Infographic explanation:
This infographic shows three visual representations of gerrymandering using a grid, with the first panel displaying 50 precincts arranged in a 10×5 grid where 30 squares are colored blue and 20 squares are colored red, representing a population that is 60% blue and 40% red, followed by a middle panel showing the same colored grid divided into 5 horizontal districts with thick black lines where each district contains a blue majority resulting in 5 blue wins and 0 red wins, and a final panel showing the identical colored grid but with districts drawn using irregular thick black boundary lines that create oddly shaped districts; this “carving out” results in 3 red district wins and 2 blue district wins despite the blue majority population.
This simple graphical example demonstrates how the manipulation of these district boundaries can impact electoral outcomes even when the underlying voter preferences remains constant across all three scenarios. Because this impacts both state and Congressional representation, this can also influence the results of which party receives the majority of seats in the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress (and/or that states legislature).
In the United States, the two main political parties are represented by these colors: Blue for Democrats and Red for Republicans
The following is a video that explains it for those who prefer audio/visual:
Such redistricting is not unique to the U.S., but it has been something that has been weaponized often enough to advantage one political party over the other where the resulting representation at both the state and federal levels are affected.
A perfect example of this is the governor of Louisiana suspending the states congressional primary election for the U.S. House after this ruling came down. It is expected that other Republican led states will try to enact similar changes to their maps that will carve out those Democratic leaning districts that are likely also predominantly people of color (POC).
As it stands right now, this could turn into a “free-for-all” of redistricting attempts across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections as a means for the Republican’s to maintain the majority of seats even though the economy is likely to end up being in a worse state given the Iran War and its impact on the global economy. Some larger states run by Democrats including New York, are also looking to redraw several districts after this ruling.
The GOP has long depended on the Democratic party being beholden to protocol and/or giving the illusion of “taking the high road” (example being when SCOTUS ruled in favor of wide sweeping “presidential immunity” for official acts performed while a president is in office, knowingly expecting that Biden would not execute such authoritarian power heading into the 2024 election cycle).
Because of what is often times this asymmetrical political warfare, the GOP has been able to push those boundaries to where most of the institutional guardrails at the federal level no longer exist while the remaining ones (especially replacing the lower courts with more loyalist judges) require a few more election cycles to continue to weaken the remaining foundation.
From my simpleton view (as someone who is apolitically independent), it should be eliminating the electoral college system for electing the president (one person, one vote, majority of the votes win) and checks and balances for redistricting. I know, too idealistic and something requiring a larger overhaul of the entire political system in the U.S. which has proven itself to be one that easy to dismantle once corrupt people were able to control all the levers of power.
