Gerrymandering: Who Draws the Lines?
Chloe Kirby
Maps for U.S. Congressional electoral districts are redrawn every ten years following the taking of the national census. These maps can be drawn by state legislatures, advisory commissions, back-up commissions, politician commissions, or independent commissions. However, the practice of partisan gerrymandering, wherein potentially legally challengeable district lines are drawn to intentionally and obviously benefit one political party over the other, is a common occurrence. The question this paper addresses is: does the occurrence of partisan gerrymandering depend on who’s drawing the district lines? My paper unfolds in six sections: 1.) an analysis on the problem with gerrymandering defined in terms of the reduction of electoral competition; 2.) a brief overview is provided of what are considered the worst partisan gerrymandered states since the 2010 census; 3.) an assessment of the effectiveness of what is known as traditional districting principles (TDPs) and its effort to constrain partisan gerrymandering as a solution to the problems mentioned in the previous two sections; 4.) a comparison between redistricting commissions and partisan gerrymandering; 5.) a look into independent commissions and Arizona’s recent efforts to reduce partisan gerrymandering; and lastly, 6.) a comparison of Colorado’s switch from state legislature-drawn lines in the 2010 census to independent commission-drawn lines in the 2020 census. I conclude that the occurrence of partisan gerrymandering is more present when lines are drawn by state legislatures or politician commissions; however, other commissions, such as independent commissions which are established to avoid legally suspect maps, are still able to produce partisan gerrymandered districts.
Chloe Kirby graduated from Emerald High School in Greenwood, SC, and is a senior political science major with a minor in history at Lander University. Her achievements so far include her active memberships in the Tau Sigma National Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta, and Pi Sigma Alpha.