What is the meaning of redistricting, who is responsible for it, and why is it such a political football?
Answer:
An ideal response will:
1. Define redistricting as the reapportionment of congressional seats after each census. States that have grown in population are apportioned more representatives and those that have dwindled, fewer.
2. State legislatures draw the new district maps. This has often been used as an invitation to use redistricting as a partisan tool in which the incumbent majority creates voting districts favorable to their party's reelection.
3. Gerrymandering is the term used for this sort of partisan district creation. Packing and cracking describe whether district lines are drawn to give electoral favor to a particular group of constituents (packing), or to divide a block of opposition constituents (cracking).
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