Apportionment and Gerrymandering

Objectives By the end of the lesson, students will… Describe the purpose of the census Explain reapportionment and gerrymandering

The Census What is a census? A complete count of the population Done every 10 years in America- constitutional requirement (Article I, Section 2) Measures population shifts A change in the numbers of the different groups of individuals making up a population

Apportionment What is apportionment? The process of dividing the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the 50 states based on population Every 10 years, the country is redistricted (aka reapportioned) The redrawing of boundaries to that its residents have a fair and and equal share in the way they are governed

The Census The last Census was in 2010 The population is used to determine the amount of representatives in a state Larger states will have more power, smaller states will have less power (Sound familiar? State legislatures redraw the district lines

Representation How many representatives should Tennessee have? 308,747,716 (2010 U.S. Population) 435 members in the House of Representatives US Population / Rep. = x (amount of people in a district) 308,747,716 /435= x TN State Population = 6,600,299 (Census 2015 estimate) 6,600,299/x = y Y= # of districts/reps

Districts must be… As equal in population as possible As compact as possible Can’t unfairly break up or compact people of a minority race Adjoining All parts of the district must be connected

2000 Memphis, 2000 – 690,186 Nashville, 2000 – 569,891

2010

Redistricting and Gerrymandering After states are told how many districts they have been apportioned, the state legislature draws new districts Gerrymandering occurs when the party in charge of the state government draws the lines in a manner that favors their party Both Democrats and Republicans do this If you combine together the votes of everyone in the House of Representatives, Republicans got 1.1 million less votes than Democrats but retained a 33 seat majority (2010)

Video Review What is cracking? What is packing?

Presidential Vote by County

District 1. Republican 76% District 2. Republican 74% District 3 District 1 Republican 76% District 2 Republican 74% District 3 Republican 61% District 4 Republican 55% District 5 Democrat 62% District 6 Republican 76% District 7 Republican 71% District 8 Republican 68% District 9 Democrat 75% 2012 Congressional Results

Illinois’ 4th District

Apportionment activity!

Review What is the Census? What is reapportionment? How often does the U.S. redraw district lines? What is gerrymandering?

Directions Each district must equal in population There are 7 districts, so figure out how many people need to be in each I will assign you a political party Your political party must have the majority of districts in the state You can use cracking or packing

Democrats

Republicans