As Republicans and Democrats continue their mid-decade redistricting grudge match that could determine which party controls Congress after November, Americans may learn a truism about legislative elections. That is, voters don't really select the politicians who represent them. Politicians choose their voters, resulting in "skewed, unrepresentative maps where electoral outcomes are virtually guaranteed," as the Brennan Center explains.
The process has long been known as gerrymandering, named in 1812 after Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry. Per Smithsonian magazine, Gerry signed a state Senate redistricting map drawn up by his fellow Democratic-Republicans that shifted from a county-based model to one filled with "carvings and manglings" designed to strip power from the competing Federalists. Critics noted the district looked a lot like a salamander.
