How to Tilt an Election Through Redistricting

This article discusses the impact that redistricting has on congressional elections throughout the country and notes the five ways to "tilt" an election in one party's favor or another. One way involved tribalism; for example, a district in Arizona was drawn in order to encompass a Hopi Indian reservation. This kind of districting is to make sure that minority groups are being accounted for in terms of ethnicity and race. After losing two House seats in the 2000 census, New York's state government struck a compromise in which two incumbents, one from each party, would be protected in particular districts. Essentially, this article shows that elections aren't traditionally democratic anymore: it is always possible to manipulate a state's voting patterns. In response to this redistricting issue, it is something that should be fixed, as it is not completely representing the interests of areas as a whole. In Sabato's book, he suggested that we try to eliminate gerrymandering by having a nonpartisan council in every state who would be dedicated to drawing the district lines fairly. I think that this idea is a good one, as long as it isn't proposed as an amendment to the Constitution.