Gerrymandering is the term used for changing the boundaries of a district for political advantage. The practice has been an important feature of US politics, where political parties are responsible for determining the position of Congressional district lines in the majority of states.
After each 10-yearly census in the USA, the number of Congressional seats to which a state is entitled is reallocated or ‘reapportioned’, reflecting any population changes that have taken place. Districts within each state may then need to be redrawn — aprocess called redistricting (Figure 1). Since this is most often the responsibility of the governing party of each state legislature, state legislative elections following the census are of critical importance.
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