The Political Art of Gerrymandering
If everyone in Nevada gets “counted” in the 2010 Census it is almost certain that the state of Nevada will gain a new Congressional District. That will increase Nevada’s representation in the House of Representatives in Congress.
Nevada currently is represented by three representatives. Shelley Berkley (Democrat)—District 1; Dean Heller (Republican)—District 2; and Dina Titus (Democrat)—District 3.
A new District 4 will be formed at some point for Nevada. How will that be done? My prediction is that it will be formed in the rurals of Nevada. District 2, Heller’s District, is comprised primarily of Nevada’s rural counties. Clark County Nevada contains Districts 1 and 3. The remainder of the state is District 2. District 2 is huge.
District 2 has a heavy Republican lean and has been held by the Republican Party since its creation and votes Republican. John McCain, in the Presidential election of 2008, won District 2 by 88 votes out of 335,720 votes cast.
As of December 2009 the Nevada Secretary of State figures shows the entire state of Nevada has 1,140,068 “active” voters. (“Active” voters means those that actually vote rather than being simply registered.) Congressional District 1 has 293,074 active voters. District 2 has 424,675; and District 3 has 422,221.
The 2010 Census will count the population of people in the United States. Remember back in the formative years of the United States? Article I, Section 2 of the new Constitution required the people of the original 13 states be counted. The reason was to secure a count of the number of people living throughout the new country and where they lived. That needed to be determined so that the new republic of, for, and by the people could all be equitably represented in the new union. The count occurs every 10 years.
The idea behind our democracy is that people receive equal representation in our federal government. It is a Republic. So if, as I predict, Nevada’s population has grown enough the 2010 count will require a 4th Congressional District be formed. Adding a new District will mean redrawing of the Districts in Nevada so that the populations of each of the four Districts will have equal representation.
Rest assured that both political parties, Republican and Democrat, will be busily scurrying to see that the Districts will be populated by registered members of their respective parties. Why? Because the boundaries of the new districts will determine which party has the better chance of getting a member of their party elected in future elections.
How is that done? It is done by a political process called gerrymandering. What is gerrymandering, you ask?
Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape.
Incumbents want any changes in their District to be sure to have a disproportionate number of voters in their political party. For example, Dean Heller, a Republican, will want his District to have a lot more registered Republicans than Democrats because it will tend to insure his re-election in the next voting cycle. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus will want the same advantage on the Democrat side in their respective Districts for the same reason. Gerrymandering is a way to retain power for incumbents.
Gerrymandering has occurred in the United States since its beginning. In 1788, Patrick Henry and his Anti-Federalist allies were in control of the Virginia House of Delegates. They drew the boundaries of Virginia’s 5th congressional district in an attempt to keep James Madison out of the US House of Representatives. In 2003, the majority of Republicans in the Texas legislature redistricted the state, diluting the voting power of the heavily Democratic Travis County by parceling its residents out to more Republican districts.
In a decision (League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry) in 2006, the US Supreme Court upheld most of a Texas congressional map engineered in 2003 by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The 7–2 decision allows state legislatures to redraw and gerrymander districts as often as they like (not just after the decennial census). Thus they may work to protect their political parties’ standing and number of seats, so long as they do not harm racial and ethnic minority groups. A 5–4 majority declared one Congressional district unconstitutional in the case because of harm to an ethnic minority. Some states’ citizens are considering shifting redistricting authority from politicians and giving it to non-partisan commissions.
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