1. Governing States and Electoral Geography Objective: Identify how the governments of states are organized. Explain the concept and effects of gerrymandering.

2. More Important Vocab Words  Use your textbook/reading guide/notecards/others at your table to define the following:  Table 1 – Unitary State  Table 2 – Federal State  Table 3 – Gerrymandering  Table 4 – Wasted vote gerrymandering  Table 5 – Excess vote gerrymandering  Table 6 – Stacked vote gerrymandering

3. What type of Government? Unitary  Highly centralized  Capital city=power source  Minorities not addressed  Regional governments implement central decisions  Requires effective communication with all regions of the country  Spain, UK, Syria, Italy, Israel Federal  Federal, State and Local levels  Can have weak or strong federal systems  Local governments possess authority to adopt their own laws  Boundaries can be drawn to correspond with regions inhabited by different ethnicities  Reduce Nationalism?  Can accommodate different cultures  Useful in multinational states  Ex. Russia, Canada, US, Brazil, India, Belgium

5. How are these connected?  Territorial Representation v. Gerrymandering  Census v. Reapportionment  Packing v. Cracking  Partisan v. Racial Gerrymandering  Why create a Majority-Minority District? Electoral Geography http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mky11UJb9AY

6. Electoral geography - Boundaries within the United States are used to create legislative districts The boundaries separating legislative districts within the U.S. are redrawn periodically to ensure that each district has approximately the same population (reapportionment, happens after census is taken)

7. Gerrymandering  “Redistricting for advantage”, redistricting to benefit the party in power  Gerrymandering  Three types: wasted, excess, and stacked vote  Illegal (1985 U.S. Supreme Court decisio n)

8. California 38 th White = 18.9% Black = 3.6% Asian = 14.5% Hispanic = 61.2% Other = 1.8 Arizona 2 nd White = 85.5% Black = 2.2% Asian = 1.7% Hispanic = 14.2% Native American = 2.2% Other = 6% other But kept Hopi and Navajo in separate districts

10. Gerrymandering: Example

11. Wasted Vote Gerrymandering  Turn to page 284 in your textbook  Spreads opposition supporters across many districts but in the minority  Even though opposition is present in each district, they are always outnumbered and will never win the district

12. - Wasted vote Party A voterParty B voter District boundary Gerrymandering

13. Excess Vote Gerrymandering  Concentrates opposition supporters into a few districts  Oppositions supporters will win the districts that they are concentrated in but, overall, it will not be enough to win the state

14. - Excess vote Party A voterParty B voter District boundary Gerrymandering

15. Stacked Vote Gerrymandering  Links distant areas of like-minded votes through oddly shaped boundaries  Has been especially attractive for creating districts inclined to elect ethnic minorities

16. - Stacked vote Party A voterParty B voter District boundary Gerrymandering

17. Gerrymandering Activity  On the paper you receive, follow the directions to gerrymander your state for the given type of gerrymandering listed.  On the back of the paper, reflect on the process to create districts in the way you were asked. Explain which groups have the advantage/disadvantage.  What is your personal reaction to gerrymandering? What should be done to address the issue of gerrymandering?