gerrymander

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair…

   To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.

   • [Will] O’Neill isn’t necessarily wrong. Democrats readily concede that they are betraying principles of good governance in trying to gerrymander California.
2. 2

   To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a…

   To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a particular group or for other perceived gain.

   • The superintendent helped gerrymander the school district lines in order to keep the children of the wealthy gated community in the better school all the way across town.
3. 3

   To change the franchise or voting system in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to…

   To change the franchise or voting system in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.

   • [The Reform Bill's] main purpose will be so to gerrymander the electorate as to give the greatest possible assistance to the Radical party at the next election.
   • But Remainers often picture [Brexit] instead as the upshot of a poorly framed question put to an ill-informed, and underrepresentative segment of the population – even the product of a 'gerrymander'.
   • Congress delegated to the first legislature the task of setting up elections under territorial law, which it did. But Montana Democrats couldn't pass up the opportunity to gerrymander the rules.
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To deliberately bring in voters of one's own party or displace voters of another party…

      To deliberately bring in voters of one's own party or displace voters of another party from a voting district in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.

      • Fermanagh Council even went so far as to create the new village of Donagh in an attempt to move Catholics out of Newtownbutler, four miles away, so unionists could gerrymander a majority.
   2. 5

      The act of gerrymandering.

   3. 6

      A voting district skewed by gerrymandering.

      • Any citizen looking at a map of district 12 could immediately tell that it was a gerrymander because of the ridiculous way it cut across four counties while carving up neighborhoods in half.
   4. 7

      Obsolete form of gerrymander.

      • The latter attempted (at June Session) to provide for the appointment of Madisonian Electors by the Legislature; they attempted also to Gerrymander the State for the choice of Representatives to Congress; […]
      • When a man has been swindled out of his rights by a villain, he says he has been Gerrymandered.
      • Col. Singleton is the first Whig Representative ever sent to the Legislature since the district was Gerrymandered for party purposes.

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