Final answer:
Redistricting is the process of redrawing legislative district boundaries to ensure equal population distribution, complying with the principle of 'one person, one vote'. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of district lines for political advantage. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 sought to prevent such manipulations, though its enforcement has changed over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of redrawing legislative districts to meet federal and state requirements is commonly known as redistricting. Redistricting adjusts the boundaries of electoral districts to ensure that each has roughly the same population, conforming to the principle of 'one person, one vote'. This process is critical to maintaining fair and equal representation in legislative bodies such as the U.S. House of Representatives. Following the decennial U.S. Census, which determines population shifts and overall counts, state legislatures are responsible for redrawing district lines through redistricting.
However, the redistricting process can be manipulated for political gain, a practice known as gerrymandering. Gerrymandering occurs when the controlling party in a state legislature redraws district boundaries to advantage its candidates and disadvantage others. This can be done by concentrating opposition supporters into a few districts (packing) or by spreading them across many districts (cracking), thereby diluting their voting power. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 was intended to prevent such manipulative redistricting practices, especially in southern states with histories of racial or partisan gerrymandering. Recent Supreme Court decisions, however, have altered the enforcement of some of these protections.
In essence, the redistricting process is crucial for ensuring that each vote carries equal weight across the nation's electoral districts. Despite this, gerrymandering continues to pose a significant challenge to the integrity of the electoral system, making it a topic of ongoing debate and legal scrutiny.