Political parties use gerrymandering to counteract shifting voter preferences in key battleground states, study finds

During midterm elections this November, voters across the country will head to the polls to decide who should represent them for the next two years in the U.S. House of Representatives. But, in some states, they may have a harder time making their voices heard this year, in part, because it’s the first election following a redistricting cycle. New research from UC Santa Cruz that focused on “swing states,” where political parties are evenly matched, suggests that whichever party controls the redistricting process in the state legislature engineers an 11 percentage point increase in its probability of winning a U.S. House race in the next election. And these advantages often run counter to the will of voters.

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