20 Informative Essay Topics: Discuss Controversial Redistricting Issues with Ease!

Redistricting is a political topic which deals with the segmentation of large cities into smaller districts. As this is a research topic with a big spectrum, your course instructor might be tempted to assign it. If you have been asked to write a detailed paper or essay on this topic, you can go over to our 10 facts on redistricting for an informative essay and find a lot of details on the subject. However, if you are looking for direct topics which will make your research a lot easier and narrow, here are 20 you can pick out from for your essay.

Here are 20 topics regarding redistricting for your informative essay:

The General History of Redistricting Vs. Current Redistricting
How The Baker Vs. Carr Trial Played Part in Contemporary Redistricting
The Necessity of Redistricting & The Logic Behind Its Concept
Discuss The Origins of the “1-Person-Equals-1-Vote” Statement
The Effects of Geographical Contiguity on Redistricting
A Detailed Look at Partisan Gerrymandering & Its Setbacks
Bipartisan Gerrymandering & Its Benefits
What is Biased Redistricting?
History of Litigations Against Biased Redistricting
What Role Does Redistricting Play In Eliminating Incumbents?
Reasons Why Richard Cranwell Didn’t Run for Re-Election after Redistricting
How Minority Votes are Rendered Useless in Redistricting
The Strategic Dilution of The Latino Community Votes in 2003
Adverse Effects of Redistricting on Small Communities
Effects of Redistricting of Regions with Certain Predominant Ethnic Populations
The 92’ Race Riots & Their Adverse Effects on Koreatown
How States Use Legislators for Redistricting
Commissions & Their Reliabilities on Redistricting
Backup Commision Vs. Political Commission
Independent Commission & Its Role in Legislations

You can elaborate on these topics extensively and if you are just getting started, look at our guide on how to write an informative essay on redistricting for tips and tricks. To assist and inspire you to write the best essay, here is an example of an informative and authoritative essay.

Sample Informative Essay on the History of Redistricting

Redistricting is an example of how the American democratic system handles equality. This political strategy is used to adjust the population of the country to districts. Redistricting has a huge impact on our daily lives and it is important that we study its topics in detail so we can make an informed decision for our communities.

Federal, state and local legislatures are elected from districts and their size is usually the same as the entire jurisdiction. For example, if we talk about the members of a school board, they may be elected from the area of the same boundaries and not the overall district of the school that the board governs. However, a lot of times, the district lines subdivide territories. This results in one city or a state controlling multiple districts. When this happens, an entity is needed that can create a system to decide where the lines are.

In the colonial times, constraints of a district were defined by borders of individuals or collection of towns and counties. Legislatures were formed by assigning a particular number of representatives to each district. The 1777 New York State’s constitution, which had assigned a total of 9 representatives to the city, is a good example of this.

However, because the overall population had grown exponentially, the growth was not equal; while some towns and counties grew larger, others didn’t. Some jurisdictions didn’t update their systems and as a result, there was an imbalance between the number of representative and district lines.

Districts that didn’t modify their borders and number of representatives presented various reasons. While some complained about conflicting policies, others failed to follow because of personal political interests. Some states blankly refused to redistrict, as in the case of the state of Tennessee. There was also a lack in equality with regards to the size of the district because the Los Angeles county was 400 times larger than the smallest district in California.

Before the 60s, there was unjust manipulation of district borders to enforce a certain political impact. Unfair drawing of district lines helped incumbents increase their likelihood to gain points in electoral campaign.

After the 60s, the rules changed due to a series of Supreme Court cases and it was firmly decided that no such biases would be tolerated. Redistricting became a constitutional right of a citizen and it was imperative for the population for each district to be equal. District boundaries were then regularly adjusted so new information about the population could be accounted for.

Though this is a good example of a redistricting essay, you can produce an even better one if you put your mind to it. So instead of waiting for the deadline and writing a poorly researched essay, start right away and your instructor will soon begin singing your praise.

References:
U.S. Const. art. I, §2, cl. 3.
See, e.g., N.Y. Const. art. III, § 4 (setting the size of the State Senate).
Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Apportionment, at http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/congApp/.
Act of Aug. 8, 1911, ch. 5, Pub. L. No. 62-5, 37 Stat. 13; Reapportionment Act of June 18, 1929, ch. 28, Pub. L. No. 71-13, 46 Stat. 21, 26–27.
Hanh Quach & Dena Bunis, All Bow to Redistrict Architect, Orange County Register, Aug. 26, 2001.
The “hand,” at the eastern end of current district 11, excised a portion of what had been Cranwell’s district 14. Lindsey Nair, Redistricting Effectively Moves Cranwell, Roanoke Times, Apr. 24, 2001.
See Ill. State Board of Elections, Search Vote Totals, at http://www.elections.il.gov/electioninformation/GetVoteTotals.aspx