Congressional redistricting is the process of redrawing congressional district boundaries based on population changes determined by the decennial census. It can be manipulated through gerrymandering to benefit one party over another by packing or cracking opposing voters. A Supreme Court case established that districts must have equal populations to prevent some votes from having more influence than others. Recent ballot initiatives in some states have aimed to remove partisan influence from the redistricting process but have failed to pass. The number of a state's electoral college votes and its congressional districts may change after each new census depending on population shifts.

1. Congressional
Redistricting
Perry Wilson, Steffi Neill & Hannah Norton

2. What is Congressional Redistricting
 Congressional Redistricting is the process of creating the
electoral district boundaries

3. Terms to Know
 Gerrymandering- practice that attempts to establish a
political advantage for a particular party or group by
manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan
or incumbent-protected districts

4. Terms to Know (Cont.)
 Malapportionment- some districts have too many
people while others have too few people.

5. Terms to Know (Cont.)
 Packing- to concentrate as many voters of one type
into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in
other districts
 Cracking- involves spreading out voters of a particular
type among many districts in order to deny them a
sufficiently large voting bloc in any particular district

6. Wesberry vs. Sanders (1964)
 Wesberry, a voter of the 5th District of Georgia, filed suit
on the basis that his Congressional district had a
population 2-3 times larger than other districts in the
State, thereby debasing his vote. Plaintiffs sought an
injunction to prevent any further elections until the
legislature had passed new redistricting laws to bring the
districts in line with population distribution. The case
was dismissed at the district level, but reached the
Supreme Court on appeal

7. Census
 Every 10 years, the government conducts a census of all
citizens of the United States. This information is used
for many things, and one major thing it is used for is
congressional redistricting.

8. Fundamental Question
 Question: How does the current redistricting process
contribute to the dominance of America’s two-party
political system?
 Answer: The boundaries for congressional districts are
chosen to manipulate the population and vote to ensure
someone’s reelection. The two parties that rule the
political system are the one’s that create congressional
districts.

9. Why Does Congressional Redistricting Occur
 As the population in states change, so do the amount of
representatives they can have in the House of Reps. So
they have to redraw the congressional maps of states.

10. Issue #2 Ballot Initiative Results
 Result:
 NO: 2,987,853- 63.45%
 YES: 1,721,466- 36.55%
 Significance- The results mean that there will not be a 12-
man citizen commission to draw legislative and
congressional maps.

11. Electoral College- Last 40 Years
 1980- Ohio had 25 electoral points

12. Electoral College- Last 40 Years
 1990- Ohio had 20 electoral points

13. Electoral College- Last 40 Years
 2000- Ohio had 21 electoral points

14. Electoral College- Last 40 Years
 2010- Ohio had 20 points

15. Ohio 1st Congressional District
 Steve Chabot

16. Ohio 2nd Congressional District
 Brad Wenstrup

17. Questions
1) What is Congressional Redistricting?
2) Does electoral points change?
3) How are the Congressional Districts manipulated?
4) Why is the census important?
5) Why do Congressional Districts change?