Redistricting Problem

Redistricting has been a problem for many individuals over the last hundred years. In many states during the 1960s, the legislation in the States redistricted for the first time in long time which they needed to for the reason that the population shifted from rural to urban. There are numerus problems with how the legislation redistricts for the congressional districts. First being, the party in control with the state legislation does what is referred to as Gerrymandering, in which they draw new lines based on the population, they tend to benefit the party that is doing the redistricting. Another problem, is that that there are 435 members and the original purpose was that they would be close to the citizens they represent and those members …show more content…
They need to do the redistricting for the reason being that population shifts over time and the districts need to have roughly 700,000 people living in the districts. This being a good thing, but the problem is that whichever party does the redistricting tends to make it that the party can maintain that control. The methods that are most commonly used are Packing, Cracking and Tacking. Packing is a fair way for both parties to succeed, it seems to be the fairest way to have a competitive seat like the framers originally wanted. For example, if a state had four districts and the center of the district is highly populated, then the legislation would divide it into four competitive races. Another way redistricting can happen is by using the Cracking method, here the party would create four even districts by having the highest populated area be one district and having a Representative of their party represent them. While the other three districts would have a representative of their party. This also is a good solution to stop Gerrymandering but it creates a one-party domination. The third common way of redistricting, which happens to be the most common way that causes the Gerrymandering to take place. In this scenario, the legislation would reach out to make an unusual looking district, splitting up the highly populated area and putting it with a large portion of the state creating three districts and …show more content…
From the start of the first court case of Baker vs Carr to Millar vs Johnson. In some states, there are different redistricting methods that can be used if the legislation cannot draw a map that the courts see as okay and the Governor signs. The first way that redistricting can be done is by the State Legislation, followed by an advisory commission. Most states have an Advisory Commission, but the Legislators do not normally follow. Followed by that is the backup Commission that is in place if no one ahead of them can draw up new districts. After that, in some States they have a Political Commission that is a Bi Partisan group that will draw up the map that both parties agree on so the Incumbent has a high probability of winning again. This sounds like the best idea so far for a fair way of redistricting. On a few occasions, in some states they had on the ballot proposal for the people to vote for of having an Independent Commission of Citizens to draw up the new districts. In California, recently, this proposal was shot down by the