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Simple English definitions for legal terms
gerrymander
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A quick definition of gerrymander:
Definition: Gerrymandering is when people draw the lines for voting areas in a way that helps one group win more votes than another. They might make the lines look really weird or strange to do this. It's not fair and some people think it's wrong. The word "gerrymander" comes from a funny picture in a newspaper a long time ago. Sometimes, it's against the law to do this if it's based on race, but it's hard to stop it from happening in other ways.
A more thorough explanation:
Gerrymandering is when political or electoral districts are drawn in a way that gives one political group an advantage over another. This is often done by creating districts with strange or unusual shapes. The term "gerrymander" comes from a political cartoon published in 1813.
For example, imagine a state with 60% of voters who support Party A and 40% who support Party B. If the districts are drawn in a way that splits up the Party A voters into many different districts, while keeping the Party B voters together in a few districts, then Party B could end up winning more seats in the legislature, even though they have fewer overall voters.
Gerrymandering is controversial because it can be used to manipulate election outcomes and goes against the principles of democracy. In some cases, it can even be illegal. For example, if districts are drawn based on race, that violates the Voting Rights Act and is therefore illegal.
Overall, gerrymandering is a way for politicians to try to gain an unfair advantage in elections by manipulating the way districts are drawn.