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Constituencies
bodies of voters in an area who elect a representative or senator (state or district, is a great source of controversy!!!)
1842 Apportionment Act
mandated that ONE member of house be elected per district
2 senators
how many senators per state? (elected at different times!)
Apportionment
the process of determining the number of representatives per state (based on districts)
Redistricting
state legislatures’ redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census
census
when population is measured every 10 years
Gerrymandering
intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest group or groups of voters
Elbridge Gerry
drew lines to benefit his governor campaign, looked like salamander (Gerry + Salamander)
Partisan Gerrymandering
drawing into stranger shapes to benefit a political party (concentrates opposing party into small districts, leaving more districts for their party)
polarized congress
partisan gerrymandering leads to _________ (representatives with very different ideologies)
Racial and Ethnic Gerrymandering
aims to increase the likelihood of electing minorities as representatives by concentrating minorities into congressional districts (also isolates/ bubble effect)
Majority-Minority Districts
when a majority of the population in a district are a minority voter
Carol Swain
Political scientist who argues racial gerrymandering does not actually lead to improvements wanted by minorities (just bc minorities sin congress = not enough to pass stuff)
Barker v Carr (1962)
court case in which a republican challenged Tennessee’s district boundaries because some had 10x more people than others (supreme court then required each district to have about the same population)
one person one vote principle
each district about same population; this principle was used in Gray v Sanders and Reynolds v Sims case
Malapportionment
when the population is uneven in districts (unconstitutional bc violates Equal Protection Clause, 14th amendment)
Shaw v Reno (1993)
when court rejected NC reapportionment bc was used to indirectly segregate voters (gave states ability to consider race in drawling lines)
Incumbency
running for reelection as opposed to for the first time (usually win)
Incumbency Advantage
incumbents have more media, benefit record, donor network, and name recognition which helps them win
House
The Incumbency is greater in ____ bc shorter terms = remembered better by people
Safe districts
districts in which an incumbents’ party dominates (will probably be supported here)
why incumbent may lose
scandal, poor economics, redistricted out of former district and need to start again
Experience and Money
candidates need ________ to be sucessful in elections