Gerrymandering Puzzles

Can You Solve Slate’s Gerrymandering Jigsaw Puzzle?

1. Put the ridiculously gerrymandered congressional districts back together and collect the information for each puzzle as you solve it.

2. Keep track of your times: Solve 4/6 puzzles faster than my times get EC!

3. Open the link on the next slide in a new tab so it saves your progress.

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Iowa
Time to beat: 00:29

PUZZLE 1

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

Districts in Iowa tend to be competitive ​

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. By law, the nonpartisan state agency responsible for redistricting must draw districts that are ​

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and match city and county boundaries as much as possible. The agency cannot consider voter ​

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records and previous ​ results in the process. In 2012, the state's four congressional seats were split ​

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between the two parties, with no candidates winning more than ​

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percent of the vote.

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due to strong laws against gerrymandering

square, rectangular, or hexagonal

registration

evenly

60

due to weak laws promoting gerrymandering

circular

70

disorganized

irregular

​

Michigan
Time to beat: 01:18

PUZZLE 2

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

Obama carried ​

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by nine points. Even so, Democratic House candidates, who themselves received a majority of the vote, only won ​

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of the state's 14 seats. That's because the ​

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-controlled state legislature packed as many ​

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-area Democrats as they could into the 13th District and 14th District. Democratic candidates in those districts each won more than ​

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percent of the vote.

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Michigan

five

Republican

Detroit

80

Florida

Democratic

eight

​

North Carolina
Time to beat: 01:39

PUZZLE 3

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

Although ​

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House candidates in North Carolina received a majority of the vote, Republican candidates won nine of the state's 13 ​

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seats because the ​

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-controlled state legislature had ​

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the 1st District, 4th District, and 12th District with Democratic voters. A geographic analysis showed that the 12th District is the ​

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congressional district in the country.

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Democratic

Republican

least compact

House

packed

Independent

most dispersed

urban

​

Pennsylvania
Time to beat: 02:12

PUZZLE 4

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

In what Real Clear Politics called the "​

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," Republican state legislators in ​

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packed the 1st District, 2nd District, and 14th District with ​

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voters while drawing other districts to ​

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Republican candidates. Although Obama won Pennsylvania by 5 points in 2012, Republicans ​

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13 of the state's 18 U.S. House seats.

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Gerrymander of the Decade

Pennsylvania

Democratic

protect

won

Gerrymander of the Century

California

Independent

dismantle

lost

​

Maryland
Time to beat: 00:38

PUZZLE 5

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

Although Republican U.S. House candidates won about ​

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of the vote in Maryland in 2012, they grabbed only ​

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seats because Democratic state legislators had packed voters into the 1st District and given the 2nd District, 3rd District, and 7th District pieces of the Baltimore area to make them safely Democratic. The 3rd District has been described as "​

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," "​

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," and a "​

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, lying prostrate across the center of the state."

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one-third

one of the eight

a crazy quilt

a blood spatter from a crime scene

broken-winged pterodactyl

a perfect circle

a straight line

a jigsaw puzzle

​

Ohio
Time to beat: 01:44

PUZZLE 6

Open Ended

What was your time?

Drag and Drop

An Ohio State University political scientist said Ohio's adopted plan was "​

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that I, as a political scientist, had ever seen." Although Obama ​

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Romney by two points, Republicans took ​

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House seats because the Republican-controlled state legislature had ​

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Democratic voters into the ​

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.

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the most grotesque partisan gerrymander

beat

12 of the state's 16

packed

3rd District, 9th District, and 13th District

the fairest electoral map

won by a landslide

drew equal representation