How Is Partisan Gerrymandering Unfair?

Republican-controlled state governments in the United States engaged in a nationally coordinated effort of unprecedented scale to gerrymander election districts for state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives in the aftermath of the 2010 census. These efforts increased the legislative s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy & public affairs 2018-07, Vol.46 (3), p.323-358
Main Author: Beitz, Charles R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aftermath
Apportionment
Candidates
Censuses
Congressional reapportionment
Election districts
Elections
Legislatures
Partisanship
Political campaigns
Political parties
Redistricting
State government
State legislatures
Voter behavior
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Summary:Republican-controlled state governments in the United States engaged in a nationally coordinated effort of unprecedented scale to gerrymander election districts for state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives in the aftermath of the 2010 census. These efforts increased the legislative strength of the Republican Party at both state and federal levels and reduced that of the Democratic Party in relation to their shares of the popular vote. The effects of partisan gerrymandering typically dissipate with time but the post-2010 gerrymanders have proved unusually resilient. In the 2016 elections for the House, for example, Republican candidates attracted fewer than 50 percent of all votes cast and won more than 55 percent of the seats. In 2018, notwithstanding the effects of a “blue wave” at...
ISSN:0048-3915
1088-4963
DOI:10.1111/papa.12125