Civics & Government · 9th Grade · The Legislative Branch: The People's House · Weeks 1-9

Gerrymandering and Redistricting

Examining how redistricting affects the fairness and outcomes of elections.

• Common Core State Standards
• C3: D2.Civ.2.9-12
• C3: D2.Geo.5.9-12

About This Topic

Every ten years, following the census, states redraw Congressional and state legislative district boundaries to reflect population changes. This process -- redistricting -- is a technical necessity, but it is also a political battleground. Gerrymandering refers to drawing district lines to give one party a structural advantage, and it has been practiced by both major parties since the early republic. The term comes from Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose 1812 district was described as shaped like a salamander. Modern computational tools have made gerrymandering far more precise and durable than in Gerry's era, raising serious questions about whether maps drawn by partisan legislatures can produce genuinely competitive elections.

In 9th grade Civics, this topic connects abstract democratic principles to concrete electoral outcomes. Students examine two main types of gerrymandering: packing (concentrating opposition voters into a few districts to waste their votes) and cracking (dividing opposition communities across multiple districts to dilute their influence). The Supreme Court has allowed partisan gerrymandering (Rucho v. Common Cause, 2019) while striking down racial gerrymandering in certain contexts, creating a complex legal landscape students can productively analyze.

Active learning is especially valuable here because gerrymandering involves both spatial reasoning and political analysis. Map-drawing exercises, role-plays as redistricting commissioners, and data analysis activities help students feel the tradeoffs that purely theoretical instruction cannot convey.

Key Questions

1. Justify who should decide the boundaries of political districts.
2. Analyze the rights in tension when political parties draw their own maps.
3. Explain how redistricting impacts the accountability of elected officials.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how the criteria for drawing political districts (e.g., equal population, contiguity, compactness) can be manipulated during redistricting.
• Evaluate the fairness of a given congressional map by applying principles of equal representation and partisan balance.
• Design a hypothetical redistricting plan for a small, simplified state, justifying the choices made to achieve specific electoral outcomes.
• Compare the historical and contemporary impacts of gerrymandering on voter turnout and the accountability of elected officials.
• Explain the legal arguments and Supreme Court decisions that permit partisan gerrymandering while restricting racial gerrymandering.

Before You Start

Structure and Function of the U.S. Congress

Why: Students need to understand the basic roles and composition of the House of Representatives and Senate to grasp why district boundaries matter.

Voting Rights and Suffrage in the U.S.

Why: Understanding who has the right to vote and how it has evolved provides context for how district drawing can influence electoral outcomes.

Principles of Representation and Majority Rule

Why: Students must grasp these foundational democratic concepts to analyze how gerrymandering can distort them.

Key Vocabulary

Redistricting	The process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts, typically for congressional and state legislative seats, to reflect population changes after each census.
Gerrymandering	The practice of drawing electoral district boundaries in a way that favors one political party or group, often by concentrating or dispersing voters.
Packing	A gerrymandering technique that concentrates voters of the opposing party into a few districts, ensuring they win those districts overwhelmingly but lose elsewhere.
Cracking	A gerrymandering technique that divides voters of the opposing party among many districts, diluting their voting power in each district.
Contiguity	The requirement that all parts of a single electoral district must be connected geographically.
Compactness	The principle that electoral districts should be drawn in a regular, somewhat square or circular shape, rather than being irregular or elongated.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

The Supreme Court banned gerrymandering.

What to Teach Instead

The Supreme Court has only prohibited racial gerrymandering in certain circumstances (Shaw v. Reno, 1993). In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Court ruled 5-4 that partisan gerrymandering is a political question outside federal court jurisdiction, though state courts may still review it under state constitutions. Students are often surprised that a practice widely viewed as unfair is largely legal at the federal level.

Common Misconception

Only one political party gerrymanders.

What to Teach Instead

Both major parties have drawn partisan maps wherever they have controlled state legislatures. Maryland's congressional map (drawn by Democrats) and North Carolina's (drawn by Republicans) have both been challenged in court. The perception that it is one-sided usually reflects which party controls a particular state's legislature, not a genuine asymmetry in practice.

Common Misconception

Compact, geometrically regular districts are always fair.

What to Teach Instead

A compact district can still be gerrymandered if it carefully excludes demographic clusters. Conversely, a sprawling, oddly shaped district might reflect genuine geographic communities of interest -- like a district connecting rural farming communities along a river corridor. Compactness is one factor in redistricting criteria, not a sufficient measure of fairness on its own. Map-drawing exercises help students discover this through direct experimentation.

Active Learning Ideas

Map Drawing Challenge: Draw Your Own District

Using a simplified grid with voter distribution data, student teams receive three different instructions: draw the fairest possible map; draw a map that favors Party A; draw a map that favors Party B. Teams compare maps and discuss what specific choices produced different electoral outcomes.

35 min·Small Groups

Role Play: Redistricting Commission Hearing

One group represents a partisan legislature defending their maps; another represents a citizens' advocacy group challenging them; a third panel plays state court judges. The class evaluates arguments using explicit criteria: compactness, community preservation, partisan fairness, and racial equity.

40 min·Whole Class

Gallery Walk: Infamous Gerrymanders in History

Post five to six historical examples of notorious districts with maps and context (the original Gerry salamander, North Carolina's 12th Congressional District, Illinois's 4th, Texas's 2003 re-redistricting). Students annotate: What technique was used? Who benefited? What was the legal outcome?

25 min·Small Groups

Data Analysis: The Efficiency Gap

Introduce students to the efficiency gap metric (wasted votes formula). Provide a simplified dataset for two hypothetical states. Students calculate efficiency gaps and decide whether either state's map should be challenged in court, presenting their reasoning.

30 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Political scientists and election law attorneys analyze proposed district maps for states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, using demographic data and software to identify potential gerrymandering and its impact on election results.
• Citizens in communities affected by redistricting, such as those in Ohio, can participate in public hearings or join advocacy groups like Common Cause to voice concerns about district fairness and representation.
• Members of independent redistricting commissions in states like California and Arizona are tasked with drawing maps that aim for non-partisan fairness, balancing the competing interests of population equality and community representation.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a simplified map of a fictional state divided into 5 districts. Give them a scenario: 'Your goal is to maximize the number of seats won by Party A.' Ask them to redraw the district lines on the map and write one sentence explaining how their drawing achieves the goal, using either 'packing' or 'cracking'.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'Given that the Supreme Court has ruled partisan gerrymandering is a political question, what role, if any, should citizens play in ensuring fair district maps?' Facilitate a debate where students must cite at least one real-world example of citizen action or inaction related to redistricting.

Exit Ticket

Ask students to define 'gerrymandering' in their own words and then explain one specific way it can impact the accountability of an elected official to their constituents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is gerrymandering and why does it matter?

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of district boundaries to give one political party a structural electoral advantage. It matters because it can allow a party that wins fewer total votes to win a majority of legislative seats, reducing competitive elections and making representatives less accountable to broad constituencies. Both major parties have practiced it where they control state legislatures.

Is partisan gerrymandering legal in the United States?

Yes, at the federal level. In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts cannot review partisan gerrymandering claims because they are political questions. State courts may still hear challenges under state constitutions, and a number of states use independent redistricting commissions to reduce partisan influence on the process.

What is the difference between packing and cracking in gerrymandering?

Packing concentrates opposition voters into a small number of districts so they win those seats overwhelmingly but have no influence elsewhere. Cracking splits concentrated opposition communities across multiple districts so they are a minority everywhere. Both techniques waste opposition votes -- either by running up margins in packed districts or by diluting votes across cracked ones.

How does drawing a district map help students understand gerrymandering?

Map-drawing exercises reveal that redistricting involves hundreds of small decisions, each with political implications. Students who try to draw a 'fair' map quickly discover that neutrality is harder to achieve than it sounds -- every choice about which communities to connect or separate advantages someone. This hands-on encounter builds spatial reasoning and a more nuanced understanding of what redistricting reform would actually require.