Redistricting

What is Redistricting? States will redraw their district boundaries to more closely reflect the character of the state’s population.

Districts should be about the same size in populationDistricts should be compact

How did it all start? Framers set up a system of…

Apportionment: States to be divided into separate legislative districts based on the population of the state!

Article 1, Section 2: Census must be taken every 10 years! Census: Surveying & counting U.S. population to help reapportion the House seats among states.

Like a roll call

After the Census….Reapportionment: Process of redistributing the number of seats in a jurisdiction’s legislative body to the districts of that jurisdiction based on the results of the latest Census.

New population count is used to reallocate # of districts per state

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOKeyElzog

Gerrymandering Definition: Drawing district boundaries to give one party an electoral advantage!

Drawing boundaries to ensure victory – hence weird shaped districts

“Cracking”Dividing an opponent’s voter into other districts to weaken the opponent’s voter base.

“Packing”Drawing lines so they include as many of the opposing party’s voters as possible.

Hijacking & Kidnapping“Hijacking”: Redrawing lines to include two (ore more) incumbents from the same party!

Note: Only one can win

“Kidnapping”: Redrawing lines around an incumbent’s neighborhood to place it in a new district where the opposition party is the majority

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mky11UJb9AYhttp://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/53280343#53280343

Colorado’s Districts

Colorado’s DistrictsAnalyze the maps and answer the following questions.

How many districts did Colorado have from 1973-1982?

How many districts does Colorado have today?

How have Colorado’s districts changed over the years? (from 1973-present).

How have Colorado’s districts stayed the same over the years? (from 1973-present).

What can these maps tell you about Colorado’s population throughout the years?

Do you think there is an gerrymandering going on?

Colorado Redistricting http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/colorado-redistricting-tr_n_1005360.html