With gerrymandering being one of the highest-profile cases to go before the U.S. Supreme Court this session , the issue has taken center stage as lawmakers prepare for another round of redistricting based off the 2020 census. Lawmakers across the country re-draw political district boundaries every decade, but gerrymandering happens when those lines are drawn to give themselves an unfair advantage. Redistricting is a normal and important element of U.S. government, but the line between redistricting and gerrymandering can be fuzzy. With technology drastically improving mapping software and the data behind it, there are more tools to effectively gerrymander districts than ever before. “Redistricting has always been a controversial issue because it’s political,” said Dr. Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida. “You really have to go back, some of the odd-shaped districts are the result of, actually, an order of the U.S. Supreme Court years ago.”
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 called for protecting minority rights by ensuring equal opportunity for minorities to elect a candidate of their choice.
“Technology has clearly made redistricting a much more sophisticated and also, I might add, controversial topic,” said MacManus. “Technology and big data, as we call it these days, has been a real asset to fine tuning and micro targeting the drawing of districts.”
Full Article: Gerrymandering in the modern age | WTSP.com.