What is "gerrymandering"?

Gerrymandering refers to the practice of redrawing electoral district boundaries with the intention of benefiting a particular political party or group. This manipulation can result in districts that are strangely shaped in order to include or exclude certain populations, thus influencing the electoral outcome in favor of the party that has control over the redistricting process. The goal is often to maximize the number of districts that a party can win, which can lead to significant disparities between the percentage of votes received by a party and the percentage of seats they ultimately hold.

Understanding gerrymandering is crucial for comprehending how political power can be distorted in representative democracies and the impact it can have on voter representation. The other choices focus on different aspects of the electoral and judicial processes that do not pertain to the redistricting of electoral boundaries.