Checks and Balance: The seats of their edge

Checks and Balance from The Economist

The Economist

Politics, News & Politics, News, Us Politics

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Once a decade, American states have the chance to redraw boundaries for electoral districts. The temptation to create biased maps–called “gerrymanders”–has long been irresistible. Those drawn in the wake of the 2020 census are currently being finalised. How could redistricting be made more fair?

Harvard’s Nick Stephanopoulos assesses the latest maps. We explore a redistricting cycle that didn’t go as planned. And Davin Rosborough of the American Civil Liberties Union tells us about a gerrymandering battle in Alabama.

Jon Fasman presents with Charlotte Howard and Elliott Morris.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	For two centuries, we've been pronouncing gerrymandering wrong.
0:08.4	The practice is named after Elbridge Gary, who as the governor of Massachusetts signed
0:14.0	into law in 1812 electoral map with an oddly shaped state senate district, designed by
0:20.5	his Democratic Republican colleagues to maximize their electoral chances.
0:25.8	It started in Boston, extended up to the New Hampshire border, and then turned a cornered
0:30.7	head due east to the Atlantic, looking a little like an upside down L.
0:36.6	Soon after, a cartoon appeared in the Boston Gazette, transposing the body of a salamander
0:41.6	onto the district, menacingly hooking around part of the state.
0:46.4	Gary Mander is a portmanteau of the governor's surname and the salamander, with the hard
0:51.4	guh changed to a soft juh.
0:55.2	It's a bit of a rough deal in legacy stakes for Elbridge Gary, who was also a founding
0:59.4	father and America's fifth vice president.
1:02.9	His name, and not even the correct pronunciation of it, will forever be associated with the
1:07.8	underhanded electoral practice.
1:11.2	As the latest maps for house districts are decided, how Gary Mander would they be?
1:17.8	I'm John Fassman, and this is Checks and Balance from the Economist.
1:24.4	Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
1:38.0	Today, how could redistricting be made more fair?
1:44.8	Once a decade, states have the chance to redraw boundaries for electoral districts.
1:56.4	The incentive to design maps to optimize political control has long been irresistible.
2:02.8	Those drawn in the wake of the 2020 census are currently being finalized.
2:07.7	How much of an impact might redistricting have on party control in Washington?
	...

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