Elections in the United States: What is fraud

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In the United States it is known as manipulation To design electoral districts in favor of a particular political party or group. This practice has an impact on election results and on the representation of communities, such as African Americans and Latinos, among others.

This issue is particularly important in light of midterm electionswhere, among other positions, members of the House of Representatives who respond to each of these districts are elected.

Next, we’ll detail how the process works, how it affects voters and how the High Court of Justice has positioned itself against allegations of fraud.

How does the process work

After each census, approximately every 10 years, the number of seats in the House of Representatives that corresponds to each of the 50 states is reallocated. This is a process known as recovery or re-scaring.

Once this example is complete, states can redraw their constituency boundaries (Repartition of circles). That is, each of the 435 council members represents a constituency.

When this redesign is made with intent to favor a particular political party or group, manipulation.

The term refers to Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Jerry, who during his administration in the early 19th century redesigned a county similar to the silhouette of a salamander. A satirical cartoon published in the Boston Gazette, depicting the counties as a wonderful animal, “Jerry Mander”, which has anchored the term in the popular imagination, according to explain Encyclopedia Britannica.

How does cheating affect voters?

In theory, redistricting should follow demographic changes so that the House of Representatives resembles the state that elected it.

however, “State legislators can use the redrawing process to group voters into districts that maximize results for the majority party.”And the explain PolitiFact adds: “Rather than creating a relatively equal mix of voters in each district, they tend to produce heavily conservative or heavily liberal districts..

.’s workout manipulation usually This is done in two ways: cracking s packed.

In the first case, “Groups with similar characteristics, such as voters of the same party affiliation, are divided into different districts. With their electoral power divided, these groups struggle to elect their preferred candidates in any of the districts.”And the explain Brennan Center for Justice, a non-profit organization that considers itself a “non-partisan institution in politics and law.”

In the other case, Map designers “group certain groups of electors into the fewest possible number of districts. In these few districts, ‘complete’ groups are more likely to elect their preferred candidates, but the voting power of the groups is weakened in the rest”, Adds the same organization.

While this electoral manipulation affects all Americans, the Brennan Center notes that “communities of color bear their most significant costs” because the impact of their votes is limited.

This is – as they explained – “Population segregation and racially polarized voting patterns, particularly in southern states, mean that targeting communities of color can be an effective tool for creating advantages for the party that controls redistricting.”

Supreme Court decisions

In recent years, the Supreme Court of Justice has ruled on various cases relating to electoral fraud.

In 2017, Cooper v. was released. Harris Identifies that in 2 congressional districts in North Carolina, whose boundaries were demarcated after the 2010 census, there were manipulation. This was deemed illegal because it violates the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination.

While, The joint decision of Rucho v. Common cause and Lamone v. Benisk, released in 2019, Identifies Allegations of partisan election tampering are outside the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary.

The judges held that state and federal lawmakers are responsible for designing the rules so that there is no tampering to the detriment of the different, and for that reason, they decided that it was not their responsibility to interfere in cases manipulation Supporter, cheerleader, supporter.