What does gerrymandering mean?

Definitions for gerrymandering
ger·ry·man·der·ing

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word gerrymandering.

Wiktionary

  1. gerrymanderingnoun

    The practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party.

  2. Etymology: After the US Politician Governor Elbridge Gerry who was associated with a constituency said to resemble a salamander.

Wikipedia

  1. Gerrymandering

    In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The manipulation may involve "cracking" (diluting the voting power of the opposing party's supporters across many districts) or "packing" (concentrating the opposing party's voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts). Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Wayne Dawkins describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.The term gerrymandering is named after American politician Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States at the time of his death, who, as governor of Massachusetts in 1812, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area that was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander. The term has negative connotations, and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (). The word is also a verb for the process.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Gerrymandering

    of Gerrymander

Wikidata

  1. Gerrymandering

    In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process. When used to allege that a given party is gaining disproportionate power, the term gerrymandering has negative connotations. In addition to its use achieving desired electoral results for a particular party, gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, or class group, such as in U.S. federal voting district boundaries that produce a majority of constituents representative of African-American or other racial minorities, known as "majority-minority districts".

Etymology and Origins

  1. Gerrymandering

    An American political term for subdividing a constituency in such a way as to give one party an unfair advantage over all others. Its adoption was due to Elbridge Gerry, Governor of Massachusetts. When a map of this new electoral distribution was shown to an artist he remarked that it looked very much like a salamander. “A salamander, you say? Why not a Gerrymander!” was the reply. And a Gerrymander the name of the scheme remained.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of gerrymandering in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of gerrymandering in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of gerrymandering in a Sentence

  1. Alex Keena:

    Gerrymandering the States : Partisanship, Race, and the Transformation of American Federalism. it leads to legislators who are good at getting elected and raising money, but they don't know a lot about government.

  2. American University:

    Redistricting is simply the process of redrawing the lines. Gerrymandering is redrawing the lines with the intent to benefit a particular party or group or individual.

  3. Kelly Ward:

    The presumption that Republicans should get all of those new seats simply because they control the process is a presumption of gerrymandering, and that is illegal.

  4. Elizabeth Wydra:

    Most likely Justice Kennedy's vote is still in play when a case gets to the court with the right plaintiffs and the right theory of harm, and Kagan's concurrence today makes a powerful case to Justice Kennedy that when that case comes, Justice Elena Kagan should recognize that partisan gerrymandering is incompatible with the Constitution and democratic values.

  5. John Faso:

    New York has an explicit constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering. The Democrats violated that prohibition. They did it knowingly, they did it willingly, they did it joyfully. And the court today struck them down, this is a victory for the people of the state, and it's a victory for competitive and fair elections in New York state.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for gerrymandering

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"gerrymandering." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/gerrymandering>.

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