unit 4 internal boundaries Flashcards
how often is the census taken?
every 10 years
how is the Census related to the election of the president?
Based on the outcome of the Census, states are given more or less Representatives in the House of Representatives. The number of Electoral votes a state gets when electing the president is the #Senators+#Represenatives. So if a state gains representatives (or loses) they gain more votes (or loses) to elect the president.
how is the Census related to the election of representatives for the House of Representatives?
as the population of a state changes (based on Census information), the number of Representatives allocated to each state will change
reapportionment
redealing out the 435 Representative seats. Each state gets 1, but can get more with more population
what is a limitation of the traditional electoral college map?
By coloring the entire state red or blue it is MASKING THE DISPARITY WITHIN. It is overshadowing minority voting sections. It is making it seem like the ENTIRE state is voting for the same political party.
redistricting
After the number of seats have been reallocated to a state, they must re-divide out their state based on the number of seats they got. For example, Texas went from 36 to 38 representatives. So we had to redistrict out state (re-cut the Texas pie from 36 slices to 38 slices)
congressional districts
each representative represents 1 Congressional district in their state. Each district should represent roughly the same amount of people, be relatively compact, and not consider political parties
gerrymandering
drawing congressional districts in a way that benefits the party in power
packing
trying to pack a minority group into 1 or 2 districts so their votes does not dilute the voting power in other districts
cracking
spreading minority groups across many districts to decrease their voting power
