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Most people have heard the word "gerrymandering" once or twice,
大部份的人可能多少聽過 「傑利蠑螈」(gerrymandering)這個詞,
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probably during a presidential election.
可能是在總統大選期間。
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What exactly is gerrymandering?
究竟什麼是傑利蠑螈呢?
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Essentially, it's the process of giving one political party an advantage over another political party
就本質而言,它是藉由重劃選區
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by redrawing district lines.
來讓一黨佔另一黨便宜的一種手段。
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It's like Democrats trying to gain an advantage over Republicans,
好比說民主黨想佔共和黨便宜、
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or Republicans trying to gain an advantage over Democrats.
而共和黨想佔民主黨便宜那樣。
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You see, each party wants to gain as many districts as possible
你也知道,每個黨派都希望 得到愈多選舉人票愈好,
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so they can do things like control the state budget,
所以它們會做一些事情, 像是控制各州預算,
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or set themselves up to win even more districts in the future.
或是鞏固自己地盤, 以便未來在更多地區勝選。
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So to understand how this process began, and how it continues today,
所以,如果要了解這手段的起源, 以及它今日的演變,
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we must go back to 1812 in Massachusetts.
我們必須回到 1812 的麻薩諸塞州。
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Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, supported and signed a bill to allow redistricting.
當時的麻州州長埃爾布里奇.格里(Elbridge Gerry) 主張並簽署一份允許重劃選區的法案。
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That is, redrawing the boundaries that separate districts.
也就是說, 重訂邊界來分隔一些區域。
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The catch? The new lines would favor Gerry's own political party,
用意是? 這些新的劃分將有利於格里的政黨,
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the Democratic-Republican party, which no longer exists.
也就是民主共和黨, 這政黨已經不存在了。
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You see, Gerry wanted his party to win as many state Senate seats as possible.
你可以看出,格里希望他的政黨 贏得所有可能的州議會席次。
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The more members of your party who vote, the more likely you are to win an election.
政黨能投票的席位愈多, 就越可能在選舉獲勝。
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The new lines were drawn to include loads of areas that would help Governor Gerry in the future.
新的劃分囊括進許多地區, 這些地區對州長格里的未來有幫助。
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They were so strange looking that someone said the new districts looked like a salamander.
因為它們的長像太奇怪了, 甚至有人說它們看起來像一隻蠑螈。
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The Boston Gazette added Gerry's name to the word salamander,
波士頓公報把格里的名字和蠑螈合在一起。 (譯註:兩字合併以後發音變為傑利。)
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and voilà! Gerrymandering,
瞧瞧,就成了傑利蠑螈,
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the process of dividing up and redrawing districts to give your political party an advantage.
也就是指用重劃選區 來讓自己政黨有利的手段。
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So how exactly does someone go about protecting their own political party,
所以,究竟要怎樣來保護自己的政黨
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and actually gerrymandering a district?
並進行傑利蠑螈的手段呢?
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There are two successful practices.
有兩種有效的方法。
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Packing a district,
「集中選票」
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and cracking a district.
以及「分散選票」。
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Packing is the process of drawing district lines and packing in your opponents like cattle,
集中選票是指 重劃選區將對手像城堡那樣
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into as few districts as possible.
集中在盡可能少的選區裡。
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If more districts equals more votes, the fewer the districts there are,
如果較多的勝選區等同於較多的票數, 那麼對手擁有的選區愈少,
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the fewer votes the opposition party will get.
他們所得的票數也就愈少。
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Packing, then, decreases the opponent's voter strength and influence.
集中選票這就降低了 對手選票的強度與影響力。
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Cracking is the opposite:
分散選票則是相反
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taking one district and cracking it into several pieces.
──把一個選區分散成許多塊。
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This is usually done in districts where your opponent has many supporters.
這通常是發生在 對手有許多支持者的情況下。
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Cracking spreads these supporters out among many districts,
分散選票把這些支持者 分散到許多不同選區裡,
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denying your opponent a lot of votes.
這否定了對手有大量選票的事實。
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When you have a large number of people who would generally vote for one type of party,
當有一大群人固定會投給某一個政黨時,
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those folks are known as a voting bloc.
我們把他們稱為選票聯盟(voting bloc)。
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Cracking is a way to break that all up.
分散選票就是一種把他們打散的方法。
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So when would a party choose to pack their opponent's districts rather than crack them?
那什麼時候一黨會選擇集中對手選票 而不是分散他們呢?
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Well, that really depends on what the party needs.
這個嘛,真的要取決於這政黨的訴求。
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To dilute your opponent's voters, you could pack them into one district
如果想要沖淡對手的選票, 你可能會把他們集中在某一區
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and leave the surrounding districts filled with voters of your own party.
然後用你政黨的選民來填滿它的四周。
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Or, if you and your party are in power when it's time to redraw district lines,
或者,當要重劃選區的時候 你和你的政黨正好是當權者,
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you could redraw districts and crack up a powerful district
那你可以重劃選區 並把一個強大的選區打散,
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and spread your opponent's voters out across several neighboring districts.
讓對手的選民分散在鄰近的不同選區。
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So, Governor Gerry in 1812 wanted to gain an advantage for his party,
所以,在 1812 年 州長格里想要為自己政黨佔便宜
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and redrew district lines in his state in such a crazy way we have a whole new word
並將麻州的選區重劃成奇怪的樣子, 這讓我們
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and way of thinking about how political parties can gain advantages over their opponents.
有一個全新的詞彙與思維, 來思考一個政黨如何佔對手便宜。
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Politicians think of creative ways to draw districts every few years.
政客們每幾年就會想出一些 有創意的劃分方法。
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So the next time an election comes around,
所以當下一次選舉到了
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and politicians ask people to vote,
而政治人物拜託選民投票的時候,
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be sure to look up the shape of your district and the districts that surround it.
記得確認一下你選區的形狀, 還有你附近的選區。
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How wide does your district stretch across your state?
你的選區有多寬?
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Are all of the districts in your state relatively the same shape?
你那州裡的選區 形狀看起來都差不多嗎?
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How many other districts does your district touch?
你的選區附近接到了幾個其他選區?
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But always be sure to ask yourself,
但永遠要記得問自己:
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does my district look like a salamander?
「我的選區長得像蠑螈嗎?」