gerrymandering

noun

ger·​ry·​man·​der·​ing ˈjer-ē-ˌman-d(ə-)riŋ 

 also  ˈger-;

 originally  ˈger-

: the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections

To an untrained eye, the proposed boundaries look like the etchings of a mapmaker on heavy pharmaceuticals. In reality, it's a masterpiece of diabolical gerrymandering.

—Carl Hiaasen

Bipartisan gerrymandering following the 2000 reapportionment produced hundreds of safe Democratic seats, hundreds of safe Republican seats, and not much else.

—Peter Beinart

compare cracking, packing

Examples of gerrymandering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another federal lawsuit is pending that alleges racial gerrymandering in the drawing of two state Senate districts in the Tampa Bay region. —Jim Saunders, Sun Sentinel, 15 July 2024

And more importantly, partisan gerrymandering, where lawmakers draw up congressional districts to benefit one party, has made competitive elections all the more rare. —Abdallah Fayyad, Vox, 4 July 2024

For one, state legislatures have become polarized due to a wide range of factors, such as gerrymandering, said Mary Ziegler, a politics of reproduction expert at UC Davis School of Law. —Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2024

Although math and politics may seem like distant fields, an idle geometric diversion has taught us that the most natural-sounding solution to gerrymandering doesn’t cut the mustard. —Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 17 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

gerrymander entry 2 + -ing entry 1

First Known Use

1812, in the meaning defined above