The US Supreme Court recently ruled that it
has no authority to decide cases that challenge partisan
gerrymandering, a practice in which political parties draw
Congressional districts to increase votes in their favor.
By redrawing the borders of electoral districts, members of a
given political party can cram the opposition’s supporters into
as few precincts as possible, thus grabbing a disproportionate
amount of power.
The tactic gets its name after a one-time vice president.
Elbridge Gerry was born on July 17, 1744. He was a native of
Marblehead, Massachusetts.
In 1787, with the war over, Gerry took part in the
Constitutional Convention and was the person who moved to
include a Bill of Rights.
Early in 1812, Democratic-Republican legislators laid out new
districts which shoehorned most Federalist Party supporters into
a handful of precincts. Due to this redesign of maps, Federalist
candidates for the state Senate earned 1602 more votes than
their Jeffersonian opponents did. Yet, because of these new
precincts, the Democratic-Republican Party nabbed 29 seats to
the Federalist’s 11.
Districts now came in all manner of irregular shapes.
Particularly infamous was one such division in Essex County.
This squiggly precinct looked like a mythical salamander. Thus,
the name “Gerrymander” was born.