Redistricting is the process of redrawing legislative districts. The boundaries of districts can greatly influence the results of elections, and as such, of the legislation that is enacted in each area.
Districts have to be amended are redraw every time there is a new census, to reflect changes in demographics. However, during this process, politicians can redraw districts to their advantage. This practice is called gerrymandering.
There are several ways in which this process can be used to favour a certain political party. These are some examples:
- “Cracking” refers to spreading out a certain political group over different districts, so as to deny them a “voting bloc.”
- “Packing” is the gathering of a type of voter in one single district so as to reduce their influence on other districts.
- “Hijacking” refers to redrawing a district in a way that you force two candidates to face each other, ensuring one of them will be eliminated.