Gerrymandering Research Paper

Today the United States uses a process called single member representation. This has been the process the United States has been using since the United States was first established. This had been very effective until now. The reality is that this is greatly underrepresentation of the smaller parties. Proportional Representation is a better system in a number of ways; there would be less issues with gerrymandering, there would be a rise in the number of voters, there would be much better representation, and there would be more sexual equality in Congress. Gerrymandering has become a real issue in many states. “Gerrymandering is the process where the majority party draws an election district map with district boundary lines that give itself
an unfair and undeserved numerical vote advantage during each election.” (Robbins) The goal is to create many districts that will help the party win more seats in legislature. Most state district maps consist of many jagged edges, sharp turns, and weird outcroppings. The maps aren’t very clean, this can be an obvious sign of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering can affect any legislative body that has drawn districts. Proportional Representation would solve all of this, there is no such thing as gerrymandering with proportional representation. Proportional Representation has no districts therefore no gerrymandering. If people know that their votes will matter more people will vote. The number of people voting is extremely low. “Out of the 218,959,000 people eligible to vote, only 146,311,000 voted in the 2012 presidential election.” (Voting). Some major deterrents are not liking the candidates or a busy schedule. However, one of those can be prevented. It is a lot easier to not like the candidates when there are only two that can be voted for. Of course there are other candidates but everyone knows that they will not win so voting for them is like voting for the person they like the least. This is a huge deterrent, people don’t want to vote for people they don’t like, or be forced to vote for people they like more but still do not like. With several parties to vote for voters feel more encouraged to vote because their vote actually means something. Not only does proportional representation encourage people to vote, it also gives better representation in Congress. Congress has been misrepresented for what the public actually wants to what the political parties think is best. Proportional Representation will give an accurate representation of what the public actually wants.
Women have been constantly overlooked for roles in office, but with proportional representation more women are elected into office.
Proportional Representation elects multiple representatives in a district, each party offers multiple nominees to the voters. “An all-male slate or party list would look totally sexist; so parties nominate some women. But with one-winner districts, many voters don't notice if a party nominates only men.” (Accurate). In a multi-winner race, a woman running against a man is not seen as someone who just holds the position and does nothing. That woman is seen as someone who is running because of her beliefs, issues, and policies. But, most women like to run in “teams” of two or more candidates. The party’s list also may reveal if the party is biased either ethnically or religiously. “Many countries elect more women now than 20 years ago.” (Voter). Changing from single representative to proportional representation would increase the amount of women in Congress.
Although the United States uses single member representation, proportional representation would be much more efficient for the United States. There would be less issues with gerrymandering, there would be a rise in the number of voters, there would be much better representation, and there would be more sexual equality in Congress. Without this change, the amount of voters will continue to decrease because of lack of
representation.