Redistricting Game Makes Process Understandable

Interested in teaching students about the fundamentals of election redistricting following the decennial census? TeachingWithData.org, a project partnering SSDAN with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, points to free resources with an informative look at the issue. The ReDistricting Game, a resource from the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center, provides a series of fun and educational activities that illustrate how the redistricting process can be exploited leading to oddly shaped legislative and congressional districts

Redistricting has been discussed frequently in the news lately. In order to fully understand the democratic process, a basic understanding of redistricting issues is helpful. On Friday, January 20th, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously refused to pass a Texas district court’s new election districting map. According to an article in The New York Times, the district court’s redrawing of the election map would have given more power to the Democrats. Instead, the Texas Legislature’s competing map increases the power of Texas Republicans. Both maps, based on information from the 2010 Census, redrew borders of Texas election districts for State Legislature and the United States House of Representatives. In the last decade, Texas’ population has increased by more than four million, entitling the state to an additional four House seats. The Hispanic population accounts for nearly 65% of Texas’ population growth. The maps submitted by a lower Texas court increased Hispanic’s voting power, which is likely to aid Democratic candidates.

For some buzz on where The ReDistricting Game has been used in higher ed, check out their blog: http://redistrictinggame.blogspot.com/2010/02/redistricting-game-in-higher-ed.html.