Editing Gerrymandering (section)

{{Short description|Form of political manipulation}}
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{{For|the film|Gerrymandering (film){{!}}''Gerrymandering'' (film)}}
{{Redirect|Gerrymander|the arachnids known as jerrymanders|Solifugae|the plants|Germander}}
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{{Use American English|date=April 2023}}
[[File:DifferingApportionment.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|Boundaries drawn to apportion five "districts" result in varying color majorities, including no yellow and 5 blue (top left), 3 yellow and 2 blue (top right), and 2 yellow and 3 blue (lower examples matching "voter" proportions).]]
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'''Gerrymandering''', ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|Er|i|m|æ|n|d|ər|ɪ|ŋ}} {{respell|JERR|ee|man|dər|ing}}, originally {{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|ɛr|i|m|æ|n|d|ər|ɪ|ŋ}} {{respell|GHERR|ee|man|dər|ing}})<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 June 2023 |title=Gerrymandering Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerrymandering}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=John |author-link=John C. Wells |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |date=3 April 2008 |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0 |edition=3rd}}</ref> defined in the contexts of [[Representative democracy|representative electoral systems]], is the political manipulation of [[Boundary delimitation|electoral district boundaries]] to advantage a [[Political party|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).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redistrictinggame.org/learnaboutmission2.php|title=The ReDistricting Game|publisher=USC Annenberg's Media Center|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-date=4 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204145449/http://www.redistrictinggame.org/learnaboutmission2.php}}</ref> Gerrymandering can also be used to protect [[incumbent]]s. Wayne Dawkins, a professor at [[Morgan State University]], describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/09/virginia-gerrymandering-voting-rights-act-black-voters|title=In America, voters don't pick their politicians. Politicians pick their voters |last=Dawkins|first=Wayne|date=9 October 2014|work=The Guardian }}</ref>

The term ''gerrymandering'' is a [[portmanteau]] of a [[salamander]] and [[Elbridge Gerry]],{{Efn|Pronounced with a [[Hard and soft G|hard "g"]], as if spelled "Gherry"}}<ref name="cokie">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/10/11/557051691/-askcokie-is-gerrymandering-rigging-americas-political-system |title=Ask Cokie: Is Gerrymandering Rigging America's Political System? |publisher=NPR Morning Edition |date=11 October 2017 |access-date=8 November 2020}}</ref> [[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 [[Cultural depictions of salamanders|mythological salamander]]. The term has negative connotations, and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The word ''gerrymander'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɛr|i|ˌ|m|æ|n|d|ər|,_|ˈ|ɡ|ɛr|i|-}}) can be used both as a verb for the process and as a noun for a resulting district.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations|last=Elster|first=Charles|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=2005|isbn=978-0-618-42315-6|location=Boston|page=224|oclc=317828351}}</ref><ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|gerrymander}}</ref>