Gerrymandering: the secret weapon that’s polarizing American democracy

When you think about elections, you might imagine the candidates, the debates, or even the voter turnout. But something is lurking behind the scenes that can tip the scales before a single vote is cast — gerrymandering. This often-overlooked political strategy has the power to reshape American democracy, and not always for the better.

Imagine you’re in charge of dividing a pie, but instead of making equal slices, you cut it in a way that guarantees you get the biggest piece, leaving crumbs for everyone else. That’s basically what gerrymandering is in the world of politics. It’s the practice of redrawing electoral district lines to give one party an unfair advantage over another. The term dates back to 1812, when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed off on a district that looked so distorted it was said to resemble a salamander — hence, “Gerrymander.”

Every ten years, after the census, states redraw their electoral districts to reflect population changes. Ideally, this process ensures that everyone’s vote has equal weight. But when politicians use it to entrench their own power, things get tricky.

There are two main tactics in the gerrymandering playbook:
- Cracking: This involves spreading voters of a particular group (often the opposing party’s supporters) across…