Gerrymandering is inherently geographical. When dividing up space for elections, this process can never be apolitical. As such, gerrymandering is a prime example of the intersectionality between geography and politics. The borders for electoral districts—whether they be antecedent, subsequent, or superimposed—exist on a spectrum of political and geographical. While they all divide up geography and civilization, some, like antecedent borders, rely more on the landscape and geographical features.
In contrast, subsequent borders rely more on the cultural and political characteristics that divide people. Some borders, like superimposed, disregard both geography and politics and place arbitrary borders. Regardless, all three types of boundaries create different results when deciding elections; manipulating borders with every decennial Census makes gerrymandering incredibly complex, difficult to do objectively, and vulnerable to exploitation.
In North Carolina, there has been a trend of gerrymandering wherein antecedent borders are often cast aside for superimposed, arbitrary borders that are placed for purely political reasons. In short, gerrymandering is a process that dictates citizens’ livelihoods for not only current generations but puts into place policies that will affect spaces through future generations.
Due to the limitations of this project, there were topics we were not able to consider fully. To gain a complete analysis on gerrymandering and voting rights as a whole, researchers should find more data on issues such as voting rights of incarcerated populations, implications of voting age, and the reservations of those who choose not to vote.
