Electoral Cartography | Culture RC Passage

How well can you map the competing perspectives on one of America’s most contentious political practices? In these passages, let’s navigate the complex battlefield of electoral boundary drawing, where democracy’s very foundation is at stake.

Read these medium difficulty passage(s) and answer the question(s) that follows. You can choose the GMAT style Reading Passage and the question or the GRE RC variant and answer the GRE-style question. Even better, you could solve both.

GMAT Short Passage | Medium Difficulty | ~150 words

The decennial process of redistricting—redrawing electoral boundaries following census results—has increasingly become a contentious battleground in American democratic governance. Proponents of the current system assert that redistricting fundamentally upholds democratic representation by ensuring districts reflect population shifts. According to these advocates, the process maintains the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote” by adapting electoral maps to demographic changes, thereby preventing the dilution of voting power in growing communities.

Critics, however, argue that partisan gerrymandering—the strategic manipulation of district boundaries to favor a particular political party—undermines the very democratic principles redistricting purportedly protects. They contend that when the majority party controls the redistricting process, they typically create “packed” districts, where opposition voters are concentrated into few districts, and “cracked” districts, where opposition voters are dispersed among multiple districts to minimize their electoral impact. These critics maintain that such practices effectively predetermine election outcomes, rendering many general elections merely ceremonial.

GMAT RC Question Type: Inference | Medium Difficulty Question

Which of the following statements would the proponents and critics of redistricting disagree about?

1. Redistricting is a process that occurs after population census results are published
2. The current redistricting process effectively preserves the principle of equal representation
3. The manipulation of district boundaries can significantly impact election outcomes
4. Concentrated opposition districts are a common result of redistricting processes
5. Redistricting is an essential component of the American electoral system

GRE Practice | Political Gerrymandering | Medium Difficulty | ~150 words

Gerrymandering, deriving its name from an 1812 political cartoon depicting a salamander-shaped district created under Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, has evolved from crude boundary manipulation to sophisticated electoral engineering. Political scientists identify two primary tactics employed in contemporary redistricting: “packing,” which concentrates opposition voters into minimal districts to waste their numerical advantage, and “cracking,” which disperses opposition voters across multiple districts to dilute their influence. Defenders of current redistricting practices maintain that geographic clustering of like-minded voters naturally produces partisan imbalances regardless of map-drawers’ intentions. They argue that attempts to create artificially competitive districts often violate traditional redistricting principles such as preserving communities of interest. Conversely, reform advocates contend that modern computational tools and partisan intent transform natural demographic patterns into engineered disadvantages for opposition parties, creating legislatures whose partisan composition poorly reflects overall voter preferences, ultimately undermining democratic accountability and responsive governance.

Question Type: Title | Medium Difficulty

Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this passage?

1. Computational Redistricting: Solving the Partisan Puzzle
2. Democratic Representation: A Mathematical Challenge
3. Electoral Reform: The Path to Political Equality
4. Contested Lines: The Gerrymandering Debate in American Democracy
5. Communities of Interest: The True Basis for District Design