How Badly Does Your State Gerrymander: Introduction (#StopTheCoup)

When governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts approved a new voting district for the State Senate that favored his party, it looked like a salamander. So the Boston Gazette referred to the district as a gerrymander, and the portmanteau stuck. And when Gerry lost his next election, the senate remained under his party's control because of the gerrymander.

Tactics in gerrymandering include Cracking, when voters of one party are split up despite living close to each other in order to dilute their power so that they lose say in multiple districts. And Packing, when they force as many voters of one party as they can into one district to deny them having power in multiple districts.

Regardless of the tactics used, the goal is always the same. To deny one party political power and as such give the voters of that party disproportionately less say than they would have if districts were drawn to more accurately represent the will of the people within certain political boundaries.

The focus of this video series will initially be on gerrymandering Congressional seats. However, gerrymandering can effect state and local governments as well and future videos will address these problems as well.

There are currently 7 states that do not gerrymander their congressional seats. Why? Because these states only have one seat in the House of Representatives. These states are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

The other 43 states have more than 1 seat and we will check which states draw their lines to best match the overall vote statewide and which ones do not. We will use, as a comparison the results of the 2020 Presidential election in each state and compare them to how many Democrats and republicans each state elected to Congress. Some states do a good job of representing their people, others do not. We will also examine the partisan nature, or lack thereof, each state uses in determining how congressional boundaries are drawn.

Gerrymandering is one of many ways being used to deny people the power of their vote in this country. I want to do something to fix that and I am asking for your help. Liberal Dan Radio is working with LevelField to fight against these large special interests using the tools they've used to push their agendas. We are leveling the playing field and you can help us. Go to StopTheCoup.LiberalDan.com and contribute what you can to help fight gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the politicians who are benefited from these tactics. That's stopthecoup.liberaldan.com. Please remember to share the link with your friends as well. Please remember to also like and share this video. And if you want updates on when the rest of this video series and others come out, remember to subscribe to the channel as well.