Why are state legislative districts generally uncompetitive?
What will be an ideal response?
Varies. Answers should focus on two phenomena: historical gerrymandering and natural sorting. Gerrymandering occurs when a party manipulates boundaries to benefit an incumbent or their overall party strength. (They try to guarantee the outcomes for a party in each district, with the overall goal of winning as many districts as possible.) The majority party prefers not to draw districts to be competitive, because the outcomes there are unpredictable; no win is guaranteed. So far there is little evidence that the Citizens Redistricting Commission (2010s) engaged in active gerrymandering. Natural sorting refers to the fact that like-minded people tend to live near each other, and settlement patterns have resulted in an elongated coastal region that is more "blue" Democrat and "red" inland Republican. Because mapmakers are still bound to draw districts containing numerically equal populations that are as compact as possible, respect city and county lines, and do not split communities of interest, and because Democrats outnumber Republicans in party registration, it is difficult to draw districts that include even, or nearly even, numbers of partisans.
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A) is located, for the most part, in Washington, D.C. B) is located, for the most part, outside Washington, D.C. C) has grown very slightly since 1792. D) confines itself solely to implementing policy that is determined by elected public officials. E) is seldom found outside of Washington, D.C.