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76-828: The Essex Coastal Scenic Byway is a 90-mile-long scenic road network running through 14 coastal communities in Essex County, Massachusetts . The byway, which runs along the North Shore of Massachusetts , from the City of Lynn to the Town of Salisbury , passes scenic vistas, historic sites and structures, and recreational destinations The Byway was initiated by Essex Heritage and the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council . This Massachusetts road-related article

152-581: A 2010 referendum in California gave the power to redraw congressional district lines to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission , which had been created to draw California State Senate and Assembly districts by a 2008 referendum. In stark contrast to the redistricting efforts that followed the 2000 census, the redistricting commission has created a number of the most competitive congressional districts in

228-525: A district to the opposition, politicians can create more packed districts, leading to more comfortable margins in unpacked ones. Some political science research suggests that, contrary to common belief, gerrymandering does not decrease electoral competition and can even increase it. Some say that, rather than packing the voters of their party into uncompetitive districts, party leaders tend to prefer to spread their party's voters into multiple districts so that their party can win more races. (See scenario (c) in

304-467: A family was $ 81,173. Males had a median income of $ 58,258 versus $ 44,265 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 33,828. About 7.7% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the poverty line , including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over. The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list are reflective if the census designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data

380-481: A function of which districts each party represents or the distribution of constituency preferences." One state in which gerrymandering has arguably had an adverse effect on electoral competition is California. In 2000, a bipartisan redistricting effort redrew congressional district lines in ways that all but guaranteed incumbent victories; as a result, California saw only one congressional seat change hands between 2000 and 2010. In response to this obvious gerrymandering,

456-467: A gerrymandered system from achieving proportional and descriptive representation , as the winners of elections are increasingly determined by who is drawing the districts, rather than the voters' preferences. Gerrymandering may be advocated to improve representation within the legislature among otherwise underrepresented minority groups by packing them into a single district. This can be controversial, as it may lead to those groups' remaining marginalized in

532-457: A list of candidates any party puts forth. This method is used in Austria, Brazil, Sweden, and Switzerland. In the U.S., such reforms are controversial and face particularly strong opposition from groups that benefit from gerrymandering. In a more neutral system, they might lose considerable influence. The most commonly advocated electoral reform proposal targeted at gerrymandering is to change

608-737: A marked propensity for couching the process in secrecy; in May 2010, for example, the Republican National Committee held a redistricting training session in Ohio where the theme was "Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe". A 2012 investigation by The Center for Public Integrity reviewed every state's redistricting processes for both transparency and potential for public input, and ultimately assigned 24 states grades of either D or F. In response to these types of problems, redistricting transparency legislation has been introduced to US Congress

684-571: A number of times in recent years, including the Redistricting Transparency Acts of 2010, 2011, and 2013. Such policy proposals aim to increase the transparency and responsiveness of the redistricting systems in the US. The merit of increasing transparency in redistricting processes is based largely on the premise that lawmakers would be less inclined to draw gerrymandered districts if they were forced to defend such districts in

760-468: A particular effort to a particular politician or group. Examples are the 1852 " Henry-mandering ", "Jerrymander" (referring to California Governor Jerry Brown ), "Perrymander" (a reference to Texas Governor Rick Perry ), " Tullymander " (after the Irish politician James Tully ), and " Bjelkemander " (referencing Australian politician Joh Bjelke-Petersen ). Gerrymandering's primary goals are to maximize

836-432: A partisan gerrymander, the legislature instead agrees to ensure its own reelection. In an unusual occurrence in 2000, for example, the two dominant parties in the state of California cooperatively redrew both state and federal legislative districts to preserve the status quo, insulating the incumbents from unpredictable voting. This move proved completely effective, as no state or federal legislative office changed party in

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912-522: A professor at Morgan State University , describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians. The term gerrymandering is a portmanteau of a salamander and Elbridge Gerry , 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

988-553: A public forum. As gerrymandering relies on the wasted-vote effect , the use of a different voting system with fewer wasted votes can help reduce gerrymandering. In particular, the use of multi-member districts alongside voting systems establishing proportional representation such as party-list proportional representation or single transferable voting can reduce wasted votes and gerrymandering. Semi-proportional voting systems such as single non-transferable vote or cumulative voting are relatively simple and similar to first past

1064-480: A rule of one man, one vote . Another means to reduce gerrymandering is to create objective, precise criteria with which any district map must comply. Courts in the United States, for instance, have ruled that congressional districts must be contiguous in order to be constitutional. This, however, is not a particularly effective constraint, as very narrow strips of land with few or no voters in them may be used to connect separate regions for inclusion in one district, as

1140-541: A substantial number of districts are designed to be polarized, then those districts' representation will also likely act in a heavily partisan manner, which can create and perpetuate partisan gridlock. Gerrymandering can thus have a deleterious effect on the principle of democratic accountability. With uncompetitive seats/districts reducing the fear that incumbent politicians may lose office, they have less incentive to represent their constituents' interests, even when those interests conform to majority support for an issue across

1216-610: Is Lynn . The county was named after the English county of Essex . It has two traditional county seats : Salem and Lawrence . Prior to the dissolution of the county government in 1999, Salem had jurisdiction over the Southern Essex District, and Lawrence had jurisdiction over the Northern Essex District, but currently these cities do not function as seats of government. However, the county and

1292-629: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Essex County, Massachusetts Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts . At the 2020 census , the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the seventy-eighth-most populous in the country . It is part of the Greater Boston area (the Boston – Cambridge – Newton , MA– NH Metropolitan Statistical Area ). The largest city in Essex County

1368-427: Is another benefit of having a gerrymandered seat. Gerrymandering also has significant effects on the representation voters receive in gerrymandered districts. Because gerrymandering can be designed to increase the number of wasted votes among the electorate, the relative representation of particular groups can be drastically altered from their actual share of the voting population. This effect can significantly prevent

1444-409: Is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Essex County is home to numerous libraries and schools, both public and private. School districts include: K-12: Secondary: Elementary: As of 2015, the county had total employment of 282,412. The largest employer in the county is Massachusetts General Hospital , with over 5,000 employees. Based on deposits in the county,

1520-719: Is incorporated into towns or cities. Essex County includes the North Shore , Cape Ann , and the lower portions of the Merrimack Valley . These routes pass through Essex County: The Lawrence Municipal Airport and Beverly Municipal Airport are regional airports within the county; the nearest commercial airports are Logan Airport in Boston and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, NH. The MBTA commuter rail has two lines operating in Essex County:

1596-576: Is land and 336 square miles (870 km ) (41%) is water. Essex County is adjacent to Rockingham County, New Hampshire to the north, the Atlantic Ocean (specifically the Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay ) to the east, Suffolk County to the south, Middlesex County to the west and a very small portion of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire to the far north west in Methuen . All county land

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1672-675: Is now Portsmouth , were transferred to the Province of New Hampshire . The Massachusetts-based settlements were then subdivided over the centuries to produce Essex County's modern composition of cities and towns. Essex County is where Elbridge Gerry (who was born and raised in Marblehead ) created a legislative district in 1812 that gave rise to the word gerrymandering . Due to a confluence of floods, hurricanes, and severe winter storms, Essex County has had more disaster declarations than most other U.S. counties, from 1964 to 2016. From

1748-782: Is simply to stop redistricting altogether and use existing political boundaries such as state, county, or provincial lines. While this prevents future gerrymandering, any existing advantage may become deeply ingrained. The United States Senate , for instance, has more competitive elections than the House of Representatives due to the use of existing state borders rather than gerrymandered districts—Senators are elected by their entire state, while Representatives are elected in legislatively drawn districts. The use of fixed districts creates an additional problem, however, in that fixed districts do not take into account changes in population. Individual voters can come to have very different degrees of influence on

1824-469: Is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a 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). Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents . Wayne Dawkins,

1900-419: The 2004 election , although 53 congressional, 20 state senate, and 80 state assembly seats were potentially at risk. In 2006, the term "70/30 district" came to signify the equitable split of two evenly split (i.e. 50/50) districts. The resulting districts gave each party a guaranteed seat and retained their respective power base. Since the first handshake deal in 1981, whereby Republicans informally controlled

1976-543: The Haverhill Line and the Newburyport Line , both of which go toward Boston. Close to Boston, MBTA buses also exist. The MVRTA is a bus company that connects cities within the Merrimack Valley portion of Essex County. Because of Essex County's rich history, which includes 17th century colonial history, maritime history spanning its existence, and leadership in the expansions of the textile industry in

2052-438: The 107 affected seats; in those seven states, Republicans received 50.4% of the votes but won in over 68% of the congressional districts. While it is but one example of how gerrymandering can have a significant effect on election outcomes, this kind of disproportional representation of the public will seems problematic for the legitimacy of democratic systems, regardless of one's political affiliation. In Michigan , redistricting

2128-673: The 19th century, the entire county has been designated the Essex National Heritage Area by the National Park Service . The following areas of national significance have also been preserved: As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 743,159 people, 285,956 households, and 188,005 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,508.8 inhabitants per square mile (582.6/km ). There were 306,754 housing units at an average density of 622.8 per square mile (240.5/km ). The racial makeup of

2204-428: The 2000 census. There, the equally numbered partisan appointees were unable to reach consensus in a reasonable time, and so the courts had to determine district lines. In the U.S. state of Iowa , the nonpartisan Legislative Services Bureau (LSB, akin to the U.S. Congressional Research Service ) determines electoral district boundaries. Aside from satisfying federally mandated contiguity and population equality criteria,

2280-404: The 2012 election for the state legislature, that gap in wasted votes meant that one party had 48.6% of the two-party votes but won 61% of the 99 districts. The wasted vote effect is strongest when a party wins by narrow margins across multiple districts, but gerrymandering narrow margins can be risky when voters are less predictable. To minimize the risk of demographic or political shifts swinging

2356-701: The House of Representatives received 83,000 more votes than Republican candidates, yet the Republican-controlled redistricting process in 2010 resulted in Democrats losing to their Republican counterparts in 13 of Pennsylvania's 18 districts. In the seven states where Republicans had complete control over the redistricting process, Republican House candidates received 16.7 million votes and Democratic House candidates received 16.4 million. The redistricting resulted in Republican victories in 73 out of

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2432-491: The LSB mandates unity of counties and cities. Consideration of political factors such as location of incumbents, previous boundary locations, and political party proportions is specifically forbidden. Since Iowa's counties are chiefly regularly shaped polygons , the LSB process has led to districts that follow county lines. In 2005, the U.S. state of Ohio had a ballot measure to create an independent commission whose first priority

2508-508: The Republican Party (which had limited support among African Americans and could concentrate its power elsewhere) and by minority representatives elected as Democrats from these constituencies, who then had safe seats. The 2012 election provides a number of examples of how partisan gerrymandering can adversely affect the descriptive function of states' congressional delegations. In Pennsylvania, for example, Democratic candidates for

2584-540: The U.S. the Alabama Legislature refused to redistrict for more than 60 years, despite major changes in population patterns. By 1960 less than a quarter of the state's population controlled the majority of seats in the legislature. This practice of using fixed districts for state legislatures was effectively banned in the United States after the Reynolds v. Sims Supreme Court decision in 1964, establishing

2660-407: The age of 18 living with them, 47.9% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.3% were non-families, and 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.14. The median age was 40.4 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 64,153 and the median income for

2736-626: The annual September weekend event Trails & Sails, as well as other important regional partnership building projects like the Essex Heritage Scenic Byway, and the Border to Boston trail. The towns and cities of Essex County are listed below. Gerrymandering In representative electoral systems , gerrymandering ( / ˈ dʒ ɛr i m æ n d ər ɪ ŋ / JERR -ee-man-dər-ing , originally / ˈ ɡ ɛr i m æ n d ər ɪ ŋ / GHERR -ee-man-dər-ing )

2812-452: The area, connecting people to the places of Essex County, MA. The commission's mission is to promote and preserve the historic, cultural and natural resources of the ENHA by rallying community support around saving the character of the area. This is accomplished through the commission's projects and programs, which include Partnership Grant Program, Explorers membership program, photo safaris, and

2888-597: The benefit of the Democratic-Republican Party . When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble a mythological salamander . Appearing with the term, and helping spread and sustain its popularity, was a political cartoon depicting a strange animal with claws, wings and a dragon-like head that supposedly resembled the oddly shaped district. The cartoon was most likely drawn by Elkanah Tisdale , an early-19th-century painter, designer, and engraver who lived in Boston at

2964-524: The board can be denied information that might aid in gerrymandering, such as the demographic makeup or voting patterns of the population. As a further constraint, consensus requirements can be imposed to ensure that the resulting district map reflects a wider perception of fairness, such as a requirement for a supermajority approval of the commission for any district proposal. But consensus requirements can lead to deadlock, as occurred in Missouri following

3040-418: The box.) This may lead to increased competition. Instead of gerrymandering, some researchers find that other factors, such as partisan polarization and the incumbency advantage, have driven the recent decreases in electoral competition. Similarly, a 2009 study found that "congressional polarization is primarily a function of the differences in how Democrats and Republicans represent the same districts rather than

3116-422: The country. The effect of gerrymandering for incumbents is particularly advantageous, as they are far more likely to be reelected under conditions of gerrymandering. For example, in 2002, according to political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann , only four challengers were able to defeat incumbent members of the U.S. Congress, the lowest number in modern American history. Incumbents are likely to be of

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3192-440: The county region, but there is no county council, commissioner, or county employees. Communities are now granted the right to form their own regional compacts for sharing services. Essex County is roughly diamond-shaped and occupies the northeastern corner of the state of Massachusetts. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 828 square miles (2,140 km ), of which 493 square miles (1,280 km )

3268-410: The county was 81.9% White, 3.8% Black or African American, 3.1% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 8.2% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 16.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.3% were Irish , 17.1% were Italian , 12.6% were English , 6.1% were German , and 3.6% were American . Of the 285,956 households, 32.9% had children under

3344-542: The development of the shoe and textile industries, and the growth and decline of the maritime industries, including fishing, privateering, and the China trade. The Essex National Heritage Area is one of 49 heritage areas designated by Congress, affiliated with the National Park Service. The Essex National Heritage Commission is a non-profit organization chartered to promote tourism and cultural awareness of

3420-671: The districts remain as administrative regions recognized by various governmental agencies, which gathered vital statistics or disposed of judicial case loads under these geographic subdivisions, and are required to keep the records based on them. The county has been designated the Essex National Heritage Area by the National Park Service . The county was created by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 10, 1643, when it

3496-546: The effect of supporters' votes and minimize the effect of opponents' votes. A partisan gerrymander's main purpose is to influence not only the districting statute but the entire corpus of legislative decisions enacted in its path. These can be accomplished in a number of ways: These tactics are typically combined in some form, creating a few "forfeit" seats for packed voters of one type in order to secure more seats and greater representation for voters of another type. This results in candidates of one party (the one responsible for

3572-450: The elections, fewer wasted votes, and a wider variety of political opinions represented. Electoral systems with election of just one winner in each district (i.e., "winner-takes-all" electoral systems) and no proportional distribution of extra mandates to smaller parties tend to create two-party systems. This effect, labeled Duverger's law by political scientists, was described by Maurice Duverger . Another way to avoid gerrymandering

3648-399: The electorate as a whole. Incumbent politicians may look out more for their party's interests than for those of their constituents. Gerrymandering can affect campaign costs for district elections. If districts become increasingly stretched out, candidates may incur higher costs for transportation and campaign advertising across a district. The incumbent's advantage in campaign fundraising

3724-463: The eponymous Gerry is pronounced with a hard g /ɡ/ as in get , the word gerrymander was originally pronounced / ˈ ɡ ɛr i m æ n d ər / , but pronunciation as / ˈ dʒ ɛr i m æ n d ər / , with a soft g /dʒ/ as in gentle, has become dominant. Residents of Marblehead, Massachusetts , Gerry's hometown, continue to use the original pronunciation. From time to time, other names have been suffixed with -‍mander to tie

3800-556: The fact that legislators often draw distorted legislative districts even when doing so does not give their party an advantage. Gerrymandering of state legislative districts can effectively guarantee an incumbent's victory by "shoring up" a district with higher levels of partisan support, without disproportionately benefiting a particular political party. This can be highly problematic from a governance perspective, because forming districts to ensure high levels of partisanship often leads to higher levels of partisanship in legislative bodies. If

3876-739: The five largest banks are TD Bank, N.A. , Salem Five Cents Bank , Institution for Savings , Bank of America , and Eastern Bank . On November 12, 1996, Essex National Heritage Area (ENHA) was authorized by Congress. The heritage area consists of all of Essex County, MA a 500-square-mile (1,300 km ) area between the Atlantic Coast and the Merrimack Valley. The area includes 34 cities and towns; two National Historic Sites (Salem Maritime National Historic Site and Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site); and thousands of historic sites and districts that illuminate colonial settlement,

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3952-814: The founding of the Republican Party until the New Deal, Essex County was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections. Since 1936, it has trended Democratic, with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 being the only Republicans to carry the county since. Like several other Massachusetts counties , Essex County exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government. All former county functions were assumed by state agencies in 1999. The sheriff (currently Kevin Coppinger ), district attorney (currently Paul Tucker ), and some other regional officials with specific duties are still elected locally to perform duties within

4028-440: The gerrymandering) winning by small majorities in most of the districts, and another party winning by a large majority in only a few. Any party that endeavors to make a district more favorable to voting for it based on the physical boundary is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is effective because of the wasted vote effect . Wasted votes are votes that did not contribute to electing a candidate, either because they were in excess of

4104-437: The government as they become confined to a single district. Candidates outside that district no longer need to represent them to win elections. As an example, much of the redistricting conducted in the U.S. in the early 1990s involved the intentional creation of additional "majority-minority" districts where racial minorities such as African Americans were packed into the majority. This "maximization policy" drew support from both

4180-405: The greater metropolitan areas. The Kent County seat is currently held by Hilary Scholten, a Democratic. landslide . Gerrymandering can also be done to help incumbents as a whole, effectively making every district a packed one and greatly reducing the potential for competitive elections. This is particularly likely to occur when the minority party has significant obstruction power: unable to enact

4256-425: The incumbents contesting a primary or general election won their races. Prison-based gerrymandering occurs when prisoners are counted as residents of a district, increasing its population with non-voters when assigning political apportionment. This phenomenon violates the principle of one person, one vote because, although many prisoners come from (and return to) urban communities, they are counted as "residents" of

4332-457: The independent Australian Electoral Commission and its state-based counterparts determine electoral boundaries for federal, state and local jurisdictions. To help ensure neutrality, members of a redistricting agency may be appointed from relatively apolitical sources, such as retired judges or longstanding members of the civil service, possibly with requirements for adequate representation among competing political parties. Additionally, members of

4408-606: The legislative process. This malapportionment can greatly affect representation after long periods of time or large population movements. In the United Kingdom during the Industrial Revolution , several constituencies that had been fixed since they gained representation in the Parliament of England became so small that they could be won with only a handful of voters ( rotten boroughs ). Similarly, in

4484-443: The majority of districts and are drawn to produce a result favoring the incumbent party. A quantitative measure of the effect of gerrymandering is the efficiency gap , computed from the difference in the wasted votes for two different political parties summed over all the districts. Citing in part an efficiency gap of 11.69% to 13%, a U.S. District Court in 2016 ruled against the 2011 drawing of Wisconsin legislative districts. In

4560-591: The majority party orchestrating a gerrymander, and are usually easily renominated in subsequent elections, including incumbents among the minority. Mann, a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution , has also noted that "Redistricting is a deeply political process, with incumbents actively seeking to minimize the risk to themselves (via bipartisan gerrymanders) or to gain additional seats for their party (via partisan gerrymanders)". The bipartisan gerrymandering Mann mentions refers to

4636-500: The name Gerry and the animal salamander ) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812 in Boston, Massachusetts , United States . This word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts Senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry , later Vice President of the United States . Gerry, who personally disapproved of the practice, signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts for

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4712-401: The number needed for victory or because the candidate lost. By moving geographic boundaries, the incumbent party packs opposition voters into a few districts they will already win, wasting the extra votes. Other districts are more tightly constructed, with the opposition party allowed a bare minority count, thereby wasting all the minority votes for the losing candidate. These districts constitute

4788-400: The post and can also reduce the proportion of wasted votes and thus potential gerrymandering. Electoral reformers have advocated all three as replacement systems. Electoral systems with various forms of proportional representation are now found in nearly all European countries, resulting in multi-party systems (with many parties represented in the parliaments) with higher voter attendance in

4864-511: The practice more difficult or less effective. Countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada and most of those in Europe have transferred responsibility for defining constituency boundaries to neutral or cross-party bodies. In Spain, they are constitutionally fixed since 1978. Open party-list proportional representation makes gerrymandering obsolete by erasing district lines and empowering voters to rank

4940-589: The redistricting process. The I-cut-you-choose method achieves fairness by putting the two major-parties in direct competition. I-cut-you-choose is a fair division method to divide resources amongst two parties, regardless of which party cuts first. This method typically relies on assumptions of contiguity of districts but ignores all other constraints such as keeping communities of interest together. This method has been applied to nominal redistricting problems but it generally has less public interest than other types of redistricting reforms. The I-cut-you-choose concept

5016-611: The redistricting process. Under these proposals, an independent and presumably objective commission is created specifically for redistricting, rather than having the legislature do it. This is the system used in the UK, where independent boundary commissions determine the boundaries for constituencies in the House of Commons and the devolved legislatures , subject to ratification by the body in question (almost always granted without debate). A similar situation exists in Australia, where

5092-583: The rest of 1812. This suggests an organized activity by the Federalists to disparage Gerry in particular and the growing Democratic-Republican party in general. Gerrymandering soon began to be used to describe cases of district shape manipulation for partisan gain in other states. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the word's acceptance was marked by its publication in a dictionary (1848) and in an encyclopedia (1868). Since

5168-522: The rural districts that contain large prisons, artificially inflating the political representation in districts with prisons at the expense of voters in districts without them. Others contend that prisoners should not be counted as residents of their original districts when they do not reside there and are not legally eligible to vote . Due to the perceived issues associated with gerrymandering and its effect on competitive elections and democratic accountability, numerous countries have enacted reforms making

5244-486: The state senate redistricting process and Democrats informally controlled the state assembly redistricting process, New York has experienced some of the nation's least competitive legislative elections. One study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School found that over one ten-year period, as many members of the state legislature died in office as were defeated in elections. More than 99% of

5320-562: The time. Tisdale had the engraving skills to cut the woodblocks to print the original cartoon. These woodblocks survive and are preserved in the Library of Congress . The creator of the term gerrymander , however, may never be definitively established. Historians widely believe that the Federalist newspaper editors Nathan Hale and Benjamin and John Russell coined the term, but there is no definitive evidence as to who created or uttered

5396-726: The word for the first time. The redistricting was a notable success for Gerry's Democratic-Republican Party. In the 1812 election , both the Massachusetts House and governorship were comfortably won by Federalists , losing Gerry his job, but the redistricted state senate remained firmly in Democratic-Republican hands. The word gerrymander was reprinted numerous times in Federalist newspapers in Massachusetts, New England , and nationwide for

5472-415: Was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander . The term has negative connotations, and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander ( / ˈ dʒ ɛr i ˌ m æ n d ər , ˈ ɡ ɛr i -/ ). The word is also a verb for the process. The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander ; a portmanteau of

5548-598: Was competitive districts, a sort of "reverse gerrymander". A complex mathematical formula was to be used to determine the competitiveness of a district. The measure failed voter approval chiefly due to voter concerns that communities of interest would be broken up. In 2017, Representative John Delaney submitted the Open Our Democracy Act of 2017 to the U.S. House of Representatives as a means to implement nonpartisan redistricting. Many redistricting reforms seek to remove partisanship to ensure fairness in

5624-541: Was conducted by a Republican legislature in 2011. Federal congressional districts were designed so that cities such as Battle Creek , Grand Rapids , Jackson , Kalamazoo , Lansing , and East Lansing were separated into districts with large conservative-leaning hinterlands that diluted the Democratic votes in those cities in Congressional elections. Since 2022 some districts have been redrawn to just include

5700-676: Was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires ". Named after the county in England , Essex then comprised the towns of Salem , Lynn , Wenham , Ipswich , Rowley , Newbury , Gloucester and Andover . In 1680, Haverhill , Amesbury and Salisbury , located north of the Merrimack River , were annexed to Essex County. These communities had been part of Massachusetts' colonial-era Norfolk County (1643–1680). The remaining four towns within "Old" Norfolk County, which included Exeter and what

5776-471: Was popularized by the board game Berrymandering. Problems with this method arise when minor parties are shut-out of the process which will reinforce the two-party system . Additionally, while this method is provably fair to the two parties creating the districts, it is not necessarily fair to the communities they represent. When a single political party controls both legislative houses of a state during redistricting, both Democrats and Republicans have displayed

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