Who Does Gerrymandering Hurt?

Your vote. Your community. Your representation. Here is the math.

The Hard Facts.

59 million

Americans living in heavily gerrymandered congressional districts as of 2022. Source: Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

97%

House incumbents who won reelection in 2022. When districts are drawn to be safe the outcome is predetermined.

51% vs 4 seats

North Carolina 2012 — Democratic vote share vs seats won.

Federal judicial remedy for purely political gerrymandering after 2019. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Rucho v. Common Cause that federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering.

Who Specifically Gets Hurt.

Black and Latino Communities

Racial gerrymandering has been ruled unconstitutional repeatedly yet continues to be attempted after every redistricting cycle.

Urban Voters

Cities are natural concentrations of Democratic voters. Cracking splits urban areas across multiple suburban or rural districts.

Rural Voters

Gerrymandering hurts rural voters too. Rural communities packed into safe districts receive less campaign attention and fewer competitive choices.

Young Voters

College towns are frequently split across multiple districts to prevent concentrations of young voters from influencing outcomes.

Wasted Votes: Packing vs Cracking.

Packing

One district. 80% blue. 30% of those votes are "wasted" — they did nothing but win bigger.

Cracking

Same community split across 4 districts. Loses every one. Zero seats.

Efficiency Gap: The efficiency gap measures the difference in wasted votes between parties. Wisconsin's 2012 maps produced an efficiency gap larger than any maps since 1972.