这重划选区之战扣人心弦的得克萨斯州让人们聚焦于正在进行的关于不公正选区划分的辩论及其对选民的长期影响。
王少伟，选举创新实验室的创始主任和不公正的选区划分项目专注于创建最公平的选区地图的研究实验室告诉美国广播公司新闻，两党的州领导人都改变了选举边界，使其与投票支持他们的选民堆叠在一起。
他说，在过去的20年里，随着先进的计算机算法的使用，这些不公正的选区划分尝试变得更加令人震惊，因为整个县被精确地划分，导致一些地区的形状怪异。
“不公正的划分是超越所有其他事情的党派偏见，”王说。
这种做法最早是在1812年被发现和创造的，当时马萨诸塞州州长埃尔布里奇·格里签署了一项法案，重新绘制了该州的国会地图，以有利于民主共和党。地图通常在每十年开始时重新绘制，以反映最近一次人口普查的人口变化。
布伦南司法中心(Brennan Center for Justice)华盛顿特区办公室副主任卡里姆·克雷顿(Kareem Crayton)花了数年时间研究重划选区，他告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，自2000年代以来的重划选区运动导致了系统性的重划选区循环，特别是在南方。
“像佛罗里达和德克萨斯这样的州是不公正选区划分最严重的州，”他说。
但克雷顿也指出，像伊利诺伊州这样民主党占多数的州，已经用自己的地图做出了回应，这些地图也向有利于他们的地区倾斜，导致了无休止的循环。
“所有这些州都像‘好的、坏的和丑的’一样互相看着，考虑谁先开枪，”他说，指的是这部西部电影。“镇上没有哪个警长说这不是在帮助每个人。”
虽然这些州的共和党和民主党领导人声称他们正在重新绘制地图，以充分反映他们的社区，但王说，数学和地理并不支持他们的论点。
王的实验室创造了一个数学算法利用关键的人口统计因素创建地区地图。来自人口普查的种族人口统计数据、来自当地数据和其他公共来源的环境和地理信息被用于创建消除政治偏见的地区地图。然后将这些地图与现有的地区地图进行比较。
“这告诉我们一个不关心政党的人会做什么，”他解释道。"我们已经利用计算机模拟的力量来观察什么是中性的."
根据该项目，尽管州立法机构和国会代表团由共和党多数党领导，但德克萨斯州目前的选区划分方式使共和党占据优势。分析表明，重划选区否定了具有挑战性的投票。
例如，特拉维斯县包括倾向于民主党的奥斯汀市，但该县包括其周围的五个国会选区。根据分析，不把奥斯汀包括在郊区，国会选区将倾向共和党。
根据Gerrymander项目的分析，该项目发现德克萨斯州的县分裂(即一个县内的区数)高于每个州的平均分裂。
例如，人口更稠密的达拉斯县有五个国会选区，其中两个选区的边界延伸到下一个县。
根据克雷顿的说法，这种划分导致选民对自己的选区感到困惑。
克雷顿说，这样的县分裂导致了更多的当选官员无对手竞选的例子。
“如果你是一个反对党的候选人，你将会有一场艰苦的战斗，试图在一个大多数选民登记为多数的地区竞选，”他说。
克雷顿说:“我们一直看到民主党人或共和党人不愿花时间和精力去竞选，因为不公正划分的选区对他们不利。”
尽管大多数获得该项目的F级的州都在南方，显示出共和党的优势，专家们警告说，美国其他地区的蓝州也使用了不公正的选区划分。
其目前的地图于2021年通过，包括非紧凑根据Gerrymander项目，这导致每个地区的选民密度不平等，以及比平均水平更多的县分裂。
一个令人震惊的例子是该州的第13国会选区，它覆盖了近2300平方英里的边界，从靠近密苏里州边界的南端延伸到该州中部的斯普林菲尔德，然后向东延伸到尚佩恩市。
根据Gerrymander项目，这些界限保持了大量倾向于民主党的选民的集中。
王指出，最高法院2019年的裁决裁定，不能在联邦法院质疑为政党利益进行的不公正选区划分，这消除了防止各州参与严重政党重新划分的关键护栏。
该案件涉及北卡罗来纳州的不公正选区划分指控，虽然法院的多数裁决认为这种做法可能“与民主原则不相容”，但联邦法院没有审查这些案件的管辖权。
王说，大多数州已经将不公正的选区划分发挥到了极限，使得州立法机构很难将它们的边界恢复到更公平的区域。
“柠檬已经被榨干了，”他说。
然而，王指出，选区划分不公的案件促使公众大声疾呼，并采取行动，以扭转局势，控制一些关键州的选区划分不公。
例如，弗吉尼亚州在该州选民和一些地方民选官员提起诉讼后，于2022年使用一名特殊的大师绘制了当前的地图。
根据授予Virigina的Gerrymander项目，由于这些变化，该州在州立法机构中拥有微弱的民主党多数，在国会选区中没有党派竞争力A级.
根据该项目的分析，该地区的地理“相当紧凑”,并拥有全国平均数量的县分裂。
王说，将立法机关从选区划分过程中去除的投票倡议在许多州越来越受欢迎，并产生了巨大的影响。
根据不公正选区划分项目，该州的州议会中共和党占多数，在其州选区中没有党派优势。根据分析，它的区被认为是“相当紧凑”的，是县分裂的平均数。
克雷顿和王说，国家经营的解决方案是一个很好的进步，但最终，它将采取国会立法，以结束这些地图的党派影响。
王说，民意一直表明，选民寻求公平的地图，而不管他们的政治派别。
“如果国会真的追求它，它可能是两党的，并得到很多支持，”他说，立法禁止不公正的选区划分策略。“我们已经看到了它的效果。”
How gerrymandering has reshaped the political map for red and blue states
Theredistricting battlegripping Texas has put a spotlight on the ongoing debate over gerrymandering and its long-term effects on the electorate.
Sam Wang, the founding director of the Electoral Innovation Lab and the creator of theGerrymandering Project, a research lab focused on creating the most fair district maps, told ABC News that state leaders from both sides of the aisle have changed election boundaries to make it stacked with constituents who vote in their favor.
In the last 20 years, with access to advanced computer algorithms, those gerrymandering attempts have become more egregious as whole counties have been divided up with pinpoint precision, resulting in districts with areas with outlandish shapes, he said.
"Gerrymander is partisanship maximized above all of the other things," Wang said.
The practice was first identified and coined in 1812 when Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that redrew the state's congressional maps to benefit the Democratic-Republican party. Maps are typically redrawn at the beginning of each decade to reflect changes in the population from the latest census.
Kareem Crayton, the vice president of the Washington D.C. office of the Brennan Center for Justice, who has spent years researching redistricting, told ABC News the redistricting campaigns since the 2000s have led to a systemic cycle of gerrymandering, especially in the South.
"States like Florida and Texas have the worst examples of gerrymandering," he said.
But Crayton also pointed out that states with Democratic majorities, like Illinois, have responded with their own maps that also skew districts in their favor, leading to an endless cycle.
"All of these states are looking around at each other like 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' thinking who's going to fire first," he said, referring to the Western film. "There is no sheriff in town saying this is not helping everyone."
While Republican and Democratic leaders in those states have contended they are redrawing their maps to adequately reflect their communities, Wang said the math and geography aren't backing their arguments.
Wang's lab created amathematical algorithmthat creates district maps using key demographic factors. Racial demographics from the Census, environmental and geographic information from local data and other public sources are used to create district maps that remove political bias. Those maps are then compared to the district maps currently in place.
"That tells us what someone who didn't care about political parties would do," he explained. "We have harnessed the power of computer simulation to see what would be neutral."
Although the state legislature and congressional delegation are led by a Republican majority, Texas's current districting map is divided in a way that gives the GOP an advantage, according to the project. The analysis shows that the redistricting negates a challenging vote.
Travis County, for example, includes the city of Austin, which has leaned Democratic, but the county includes five congressional districts around it. By not including Austin in the suburban areas, the congressional district will lean Republican, according to the analysis.
The Gerrymander Project's analysis found that the county splits in Texas, which is the number of districts within a single county, are higher than the average split per state, based on its analysis.
For example, more dense Dallas County is home to five congressional districts, and two of the districts' boundaries extend into the next county.
Such division leads to confusion among voters as to what their district is, according to Crayton.
Crayton said that such county splits have led to more examples of elected officials running unopposed.
Minneapolis residents vote at the voting precinct at the Two Towers Condominiums, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 5, 2024.
Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images
"If you're a candidate from an opposing party, you're going to have an uphill battle trying to run in a district where the majority of the voters are registered to the majority," he said.
"We've seen it happen all of the time where a Democrat or Republican simply won't put the time and effort to run because the gerrymandered district puts the odds against them," Crayton said.
Although the majority of the states that got the project's F grade are in the South and show more of a Republican advantage, the experts warned that blue states in other parts of the country have used gerrymandering as well.
Its current map, which was adopted in 2021, containsnon-compactdistricts, which leads to unequal voter density per area, and more county splits than the average, according to the Gerrymander Project.
One egregious example is the state's 13th congressional district, which covers a nearly 2,300 square mile boundary that extends from its southern point near the border with Missouri to Springfield, right in the center of the state, and then east to the city of Champaign.
The boundaries keep a huge concentration of Democratic leaning voters, according to the Gerrymander Project.
Wang noted that the Supreme Court's 2019 decision that ruled gerrymandering for party advantage cannot be challenged in federal court has removed key guardrails for preventing states from taking part in severe party redistricting.
The case involved gerrymandering allegations in North Carolina, and while the court's majority ruled that the practice may be "incompatible with democratic principles," federal courts had no jurisdiction in reviewing those cases.
Wang said that most states have taken gerrymandering to their limit and made it extremely hard for state legislatures to revert their boundaries to more fair areas.
"The lemon has been squeezed dry," he said.
However, Wang noted that gerrymandering cases have prompted the public to speak out and take action to turn the tide and rein in gerrymandering in some key states.
Virginia, for example, used a special master in 2022 to draw up its current maps following a court case brought by the state's constituents and some local elected officials.
As a result of its changes, the state, which has a slight Democratic majority in its state legislature, has no partisan competitiveness in its congressional districts, according to the Gerrymander Project, which awarded Viriginaan A rating.
The district's geography is "Fairly compact" and has the national average number of county splits, according to the project's analysis.
Wang said ballot initiatives that removed the legislature from the districting process have risen in popularity in many states and have made a huge difference.
The state, which has a Republican majority in its state legislature, does not have a partisan advantage in its state districts, according to the Gerrymandering Project. Its districts are seen as "fairly compact" and are the average number of county splits, according to the analysis.
Crayton and Wang said the state-run solutions to redistricting are a good step forward, but ultimately, it is going to take Congressional legislation to end partisan influence in these maps.
Wang said that public opinion has consistently shown that constituents seek fair maps regardless of their political affiliations.
"If Congress were to really pursue it, it could be bipartisan and get a lot of support," he said of legislation that prohibited gerrymandering tactics. "And we've seen it work."
