The Gerrymandering Game Assignment Every ten years, the state legislatures in each state redraws district maps to make sure that each congressional district has roughly the same size of population. (Which is why Jefferson County has one whole congressional district, the 3rd, whereas Fayette County shares the 6th congressional district with several other counties.) However, drawing district maps can also be used as a political tool, where candidates choose voters rather than voters choosing candidates. To find out about redistricting and gerrymandering, and to complete the class assignment, we’re going to play a game…

Helpful Hints for the ReDistricting Game… • Each congressperson’s house must stay in their district. For

example, the purple house needs to stay in the purple district. • All the parts of the district need to be touching and connected.

For example, you can’t have an island of purple in a yellow district or vice versa. (Corners touching don’t count in this game.)

Mission 1: Population Equity You will be completing Mission 1 of the The ReDistricting Game. If you are in my advanced class, select the advanced game, if you are in my general class, select basic. You can choose whichever political party you prefer. 1. What does population equity mean? (Hint: population equity is

the goal of the game. So what is it that you’re trying to accomplish?) Why is it important?

2. How is population represented on the map?

3. Other than the size of the population in each district, what characteristics does the map tell you about your population? Why might that be important?

4. What other factors might mapmapkers consider when redistricting?

5. Click on the 2nd tab (on the left), the feedback tab. What advice does the feedback tab give you before submitting your map?

6. When your map is submitted for approval, what are the state legislature voting results?

7. Is your map challenged in court? If so, what are the grounds and what were the results?

8. Once you click ‘Fast Forward to the Next Election,’ a newspaper gives a little bit of analysis about the redistricting. Summarize what the newspaper says.

Mission 2: Partisan Gerrymandering Your goal in this mission is to try and gerrymander the fictional state of Hamilton for whatever political party you support. If you are in my advanced class, select the advanced game, if you are in my general class, select basic. You can choose whichever political party you prefer. 1. Which was more difficult to achieve – redistricting based on

population, or redistricting based on partisanship (political party)? Explain your answer.

2. Once your map is submitted for approval, what are the state legislature voting results?

3. Is your map challenged in court? If so, what are the grounds and what were the results?

4. Once you click ‘Fast Forward to the Next Election,’ the newspaper analyzes the redistricting results. In order to achieve three congressional districts that favor your political party, which tactic do you have to use? What is it, and what does it do?