1 / 17

Congressional Elections

Congressional Elections. What is RE APPORTIONMENT??. Governor and State Legislatures “Nonpartisan Commissions” (few states). REDISTRICTING. Representatives per citizens. Montana: 1 Rep=902,195 Maryland: 1 Rep=662,000 Wyoming: 1 Rep=493,782. Malapportionment.

kemp
Download Presentation

Congressional Elections

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Congressional Elections

  2. What is REAPPORTIONMENT??

  3. Governor and State Legislatures • “Nonpartisan Commissions” (few states) REDISTRICTING

  4. Representatives per citizens • Montana: 1 Rep=902,195 • Maryland: 1 Rep=662,000 • Wyoming: 1 Rep=493,782

  5. Malapportionment • Unequal number of citizens per district. • State does not redistrict. • Tennessee: 1900-1960– no redistricting. • Rural district: 1 seat for 2,300 voters. • Urban district: 1 seat for 44,600 voters. • Baker v. Carr (1962): • One person; One vote • Malapportionment is unconstitutional

  6. Gerrymandering • Drawing odd-shaped district lines to favor a political party, race, or ethnic group. • http://planning.maryland.gov/Redistricting/redistrictingIMap.shtml

  7. Packing and Cracking

  8. Gerrymandering in MarylandPacking or Cracking?

  9. What is the difference? How does this benefit the Democrats?

  10. Districts around the Beltway

  11. Majority-Minority District (Illinois 4th District) Unites 2 Hispanic Neighborhoods.

  12. Shaw v. Reno (1993): Racial Gerrymanders Unconstitutional When: Race is the predominant consideration, AND When other traditional districting principles are ignored (i.e., compactness). “Generally, such districts are extremely irregular and cannot be explained as anything other than an attempt to create a district according to race.” http://redistricting.state.md.us/maryland/mdredistinfo.htm

  13. Davis v. Bandemer (1986): Partisan Gerrymanders • Unconstitutional When: • The plan “substantially interferes” with a minority party’s ability to participate (not so in this case).

  14. Are majority-minority districts necessary? • Descriptive Representation • Rep reflects demographic characteristics of district. • Substantive Representation • Rep reflects the opinions of the district.

More Related