How does MTV explain gerrymandering to its core audience? With Oreo cookies of course. Other snacks are used to portray how students in a class my divided based on their common snack interests. The analogy leaves out crucial one-person one-vote issues, but provides a quick visual into the electoral map-drawing process. Despite the shaky electoral analogies, the article discusses fairness issues in map-drawing and the role of commissions and ballot initiatives.
Interestingly, the article reports on an initiative in North Carolina to demonstrate “good-government” redistricting via a panel of retired judges who will redraw the states’ electoral map. This mock commission is sponsored by North Carolina Common Cause and Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. If more public education is needed the projects’ director threatens; they might even do videos; “ . . .of a bunch of cats … talk[ing] about redistricting.” You’ve been warned. Read more.
