• Redistricting Game/Gerrymandering Assignment

    Complete the reading titled “Redistricting and Gerrymandering Reading”. Then use the website listed here to answer the following questions:

    http://www.redistrictinggame.org

     Mission 1: The Fundamentals

    1.       What are the three most fundamental concepts of redistricting? Describe each one.

     

     

    2.       What is the constant number of members of the House of Representatives required by Federal Law?

     

    3.       How often do states redistrict?

     

    4.       Can redistricting happen even if the state’s population doesn’t change much? How?

     

    Mission 2: Partisan Gerrymandering

    5.       How did the term “gerrymander” come about?

     

     

    6.       Explain the goal of “partisan gerrymandering”.

     

     

     

    7.       Define: Packing:

     

     

     

    8.       Define Cracking:

     

    9.       Which of these two examples represents Packing? Which represents Cracking? Explain why.

     

     

     

     

    Mission Three:

    10.    Explain the goal of “bipartisan gerrymandering”.

     

     

    11.    Which of the following from the reading is the tactic used in Mission 3: Partisan Gerrymander, Sweetheart Gerrymander, or Racial Gerrymander?

     

     

    Mission Four

    12.    How has the Voting Rights Act of 1965 impacted redistricting?

     

     

     

    13.    Which of the following from the reading is the tactic used in Mission 4: Partisan Gerrymander, Sweetheart Gerrymander, or Racial Gerrymander?

     

    14.    Mini essay: What is the impact of redistricting and gerrymandering on our government? How do redistricting and gerrymandering impact your rights as citizens and voters? How can the problem of redistricting be addressed (see Mission 5, Reform )?