The story so far: Redistricting, the process of redrawing electoral boundaries, is conducted across U.S. Congressional and State legislative districts every decade, following the publication of the results of the population census. At the present juncture, the 2020 census results came in late, in August 2021, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This process leaves worrying questions on democratic representation unanswered, because in such cases, Democratic Party supporters in these states have virtually no constitutional means to change the leadership of their legislatures, a hallmark of substantive democracy. An important point to note here is that it is by no means, in the longer arc of U.S. political history, that only the Republican Party is guilty of gerrymandering. Presently, a majority of U.S. States – 39 out of 50 – do not have any such independent bodies.

Source: The Hindu November 29, 2021 20:34 UTC