"pack" and "crack" (types of gerrymandering)

[Victor Steinbok]

I posted this link here previously on 12/14/11

http://goo.gl/0di5k

     VS-)

On 9/29/2012 7:43 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> "During as sometimes contentious 2 1/2-hour meeting, coalition
> members voiced their desire to avoid 'packing and cracking': creating
> districts that excessively concentrate voters from a legally
> protected minority group or splitting minority neighborhoods into
> more than one district so their influence would be lessened."
>
> Boston Globe, Sept. 28, 2012, B3, col. 2.
>
> Not in OED, I think.
>
> Wikipedia, under "Gerrymandering", has a section 4, "Packing and
> cracking", with explanations of the terms.
>
> I did not attempt a serious search for prior instances; seems
> difficult to isolate.
>
> 2005, testimony before a subcommittee of the House of
> Representatives, in "Voting Rights Act : the judicial evolution of
> the retrogression standard ...", has the phrase "packing and
> cracking" but without explanation.  GBooks.
>
> Joel

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