What is it?
For the March 2022 midterm elections, new congressional maps will be completed following the 2020 Census. Every ten years, states use census data to redraw Congress, State Senate, State Assembly, and the State Board of Equalization districts based population shifts, hoping to ensure equality within the state. However, many times throughout history, redistricting has been exploited by political parties. This strategy, often known as gerrymandering, creates odd and specific district lines, either splitting up or grouping together areas where populations are hypothesized to vote for certain parties.
Effects throughout history
Gerrymandering has now been deemed illegal through the Supreme Court case Miller v. Johnson in 1995, but many cases of redistricting still blur the line of constitutionality. This practice has been used to break up minority groups and split communities, resulting in certain groups losing their right to vote based on unjust redistricting. In 1992, after the race riots in Los Angeles, many Koreatown residents looked to district representatives for support in recovery efforts, like cleanup, safety measures, etc.
However, each contacted representative said that the problem was under another representative's district. The redistricting map at the time showed that the community (an area barely one square mile) was split into nine different districts – no legislator felt responsible to support the Asian-American community. We’ve also seen gerrymandering eliminate challengers, carving out districts that undermine a certain party and grouping neighborhoods together to support one. Every political party is accountable for having utilized redistricting unfairly, and it continues to threaten our democracy.
2022 US House of Representatives
As the close fight for control of the House continues to develop, redistricting becomes more advantageous for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans are drawing lines in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio, while Democrats have made changes in Oregon and Illinois. However, maps are becoming continually harder to be approved in courts. Many legislatures are “approving maps that eliminate competition in favor of more solidly Republican or Democratic districts” and approved maps are “facing legal challenges,” delaying their implementation. On January 4th, the GOP controlled legislature struck down Ohio’s map ruling it “unduly favors the Republican party” after seeing a Democratic district along Lake Erie being eliminated by new lines.
If you want to see the interactive map on Washington Post in more detail and even your own district lines, click here.
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