From the Census to Gerrymandering by Henry Mantel


“[An] Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.” - U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2


The U.S. Constitution mandates that the federal government must take a census every ten years. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the census in years ending in zero, on April 1, Census Day. The first census was in 1790, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson during President Washington's first term. The population of the United States was 3,929,625.

In 1964, in the case of Reynolds v. Sims, the Supreme Court ruled that electoral districts must contain roughly the same number of people (the U.S. Senate is the exception.) Districts must be redrawn to accommodate a constantly changing population in a process called redistricting or reapportionment.  The data gathered during the census is essential for redistricting. Most jurisdictions in the country start the redistricting process right after the Census Bureau releases the data.

The census is a necessary tool for making sure every American citizens has an equal voice in government. Before Reynolds, the population ratio between districts often varied wildly. In the Idaho Senate, the smallest district had 951 people while the largest had 93,400. The census can also be used to undermine minority representation. The three-fifths compromise, the "original sin" of the Constitution, mandated that a slave be counted as three-fifths of a person in the census. This gave southern slave owners greater representation in government. The compromise was officially repealed by the Fourteenth Amendment in 1968.

For most of the country's history and, for the most part, to this day, redistricting has been left up to politicians (instead of an independent citizens redistricting commission.) Elected representatives set the electoral districts that they would represent. This creates a clear conflict of interest; the opportunity and incentive to draw favorable districts for themselves and difficult districts for their political opponents are there. This practice is so common it has its own name: gerrymandering.

The term "gerrymandering" was coined in 1812, when Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill that strongly favored his party. One of the districts was such a convoluted, twisting shape that one local newspaper thought it looked like a salamander. Two hundred years later, some states still have electoral districts that look like they were drawn during an earthquake.

There are two primary gerrymandering strategies: cracking and packing. Cracking happens when voting power is diluted by spreading certain demographics across multiple districts. Packing occurs when districts are drawn to place certain demographics in a limited number of districts to dilute their representation. So, despite every district containing roughly the same number of people, the votes of minority groups or political parties can be effectively suppressed. And while the Voting Rights Act prohibits diminishing the voting power of racial minorities, the Supreme Court has refused to rule partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional.

Gerrymandering leads to seriously anti-democratic results. This past November, in North Carolina, Democrats won 48.3% of total votes cast but won only 3 of 13 seats in the House. In Wisconsin, Democrats won 54% of total votes cast for State Assembly, yet Republicans won 63 out of 99 seats. For the last eight years, gerrymandering has mostly benefited the Republican Party because Republicans held more state legislatures when the 2010 census happened.

In 2020, the federal government will hold another census. Every jurisdiction that redistricts between 2020 and 2030 will rely on that data. The Republican Party has been making things difficult. They have underfunded the Census Bureau and lobbied for a question regarding citizenship, which would lead to immigrant and minority populations being undercounted. Unless the census is done correctly, and every American resident is counted, some votes will count for more than others.


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