To overhaul an election redistricting process tainted by gerrymandering, Michigan has adopted a governance mechanism prominent 2,500 years ago in ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy.
A small sliver of a congressional district in Pennsylvania crossed four counties, on a map that was ruled to be a partisan gerrymandering plan.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Robin E. Best, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Steve B. Lem, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
When voters in November pick among the candidates for state legislatures, they are choosing the people who will make the new electoral maps for congressional elections.
A worker follows up during the 2020 census test run in Providence, R.I.
U.S. Census Bureau
The Supreme Court has issued what's likely to be its final word on partisan gerrymandering, saying it's a political issue, not a legal one. That means reform lies in the hands of voters.
People waited outside the Supreme Court in 2013 to listen to the Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder voting rights case.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
When no one in Mississippi wins a majority of votes in an election, the legislature chooses the winner. This has led to white men winning over and over.
Activists at the Supreme Court opposed to partisan gerrymandering hold up representations of congressional districts from North Carolina, left, and Maryland, right.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Manil Suri, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Karen Saxe, Macalester College
Supreme Court justices have previously called statistical methods of measuring partisan gerrymandering 'sociological gobbledygook' and 'a bunch of baloney.'
Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Idaho.
AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi, File
The majority of US state legislatures are controlled by Republicans because legislative districts are drawn to favor them. Voters are catching on, but change will be slow.
Last March, demonstrators rallied in front of the Supreme Court before oral arguments on Benisek v. Lamone, a redistricting case.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Judges in North Carolina just threw out the state's congressional district map. The decision could have major implications for the future of partisan gerrymandering across the US.
Illinois’s Fourth Congressional District is often called out for its ‘earmuff’ shape, but there’s an ideal behind its strange appearance.
SBTL1/flickr
State legislators in 18 states are intentionally drawing congressional boundaries to favor their party, according to experts who ran thousands of simulations using open-source mapping software.
The outside is being renovated, but what about the inside?
Jim Bourg/Reuters
Foundation essay: This article is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation in the US. Our foundation essays are longer than our usual comment and analysis articles and take a wider look…