AP HuG 4.6 Vocab

Census

Official population count that takes place every 10 years

Reapportionment

Process in which U.S. House of Representative seats are re-allocated to different states, based off of population change

Electoral College

Organization that utilizes the popular vote to then vote for President

Redistricting

State’s internal political boundaries that determine voting districts for the US House of Representatives and the state legislature

Electorate

All the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election

Voting District

A geographic term used by state and local governments to organize elections

Contiguous

Next to each other; boundaries are touching

Compactness

Boundaries should cluster around a central core and have smooth boundaries

Representative Districts

The ideal, in which the voting districts are equal in population, contiguous, and compact

Gerrymandering

The partisan drawing of boundaries for political districts by the state legislature party or group in power to extend or cement their advantage

Cracking

Dispersing like-minded voters into multiple districts in order to minimize their impact and to prevent them from gaining a majority

Packing

Clustering like-minded voters into a single district, thereby allowing the other party to win the other districts

Stacking

Diluting a minority populated district with majority populations

Hijacking

Redrawing 2 districts in order to force 2 elected representatives of the same party to run against one another

Disenfranchisement

Prevented from having the right to vote