Answer :
Final answer:
Reapportionment reallocates House seats based on population, while redistricting redraws district lines. Gerrymandering manipulates these lines to favor a particular political party, thereby influencing election outcomes. As a result, it can entrench incumbents and distort fair representation in Congress.
Explanation:
Understanding Reapportionment, Redistricting, and Gerrymandering
The process of reapportionment occurs every ten years after the U.S. Census, redistributing the 435 House of Representatives seats among the states based on population changes. Following reapportionment, the process of redistricting involves drawing new district boundaries, ensuring that each district has an equal population as mandated by the Voting Rights Act and various judicial rulings.
However, redistricting can lead to gerrymandering, which occurs when district lines are deliberately drawn to give an advantage to a particular political party. This manipulation typically favors the party in control of the state legislature, allowing them to create districts that either concentrate the opposing party's voters into a few districts (called "cracking") or spread their own voters across multiple districts to secure more wins (called "packing").
As a result, gerrymandering can significantly influence election outcomes. Candidates in gerrymandered districts often enjoy safe seats, leading to high reelection rates for incumbents. This process distorts the representation in Congress by enabling a party to maintain or increase its power, often at the expense of fair competition and accurate representation for all voters.
Learn more about Gerrymandering here:
https://brainly.com/question/38414715