Gerrymandering is Fun!

It's always baffling and frustrating in an election season to learn how it's possible to lose even with a majority of the voters. The way our districts get defined is amazingly partisan. It's so unbelievably rigged, it feels like a game... and that's the way the USCAnnenbergCenter is presenting it in The ReDistricting Game.

There are a few objectives, but basically, you're trying to rig the next election by redrawing district lines based on knowing who lives where. You can tip the scales by throwing a district to the opposition and stacking as much of the opposition as you can there. You want to spread your support across as many districts as you can win - but not by too much.

It's totally worth screwing around with. What blows my mind is that this is the type of system that we hear about in social studies and very few people in the country ever need to understand in detail. It's nice to put this type of tool in the hands of the regular (sloppy) joe. I would hope it provokes some questions or even outrage. At the very least, it can get lumped in with the grouchy sentiment about 'the game' or 'the system' which very clearly is rigged.