One of the most defining aspects of American democracy is the notion that the will of the people is fairly characterized by those who are elected to represent them. In ratifying Article, I, Section II of the United States Constitution, Congress safeguarded this philosophy by requiring that the district boundaries from which members of the United States House of Representatives are elected be redrawn every decade to account for shifts in population. Thus, the protection of redistricting was born. With this protection, however, came the ability to contrive district boundaries for the benefit of one group or party, a process known as gerrymandering.
Though gerrymandering has existed for centuries, recent technological advancements have increased the frequency and accuracy through which it has been employed. Studies suggest that in the past decade approximately half of the individuals elected to the House of Representatives each election cycle were the result of unfairly drawn district lines. Moreover, in Florida specifically, a distorted and chaotic 2010 redistricting cycle led to the use of an unconstitutionally partisan redistricting map in the 2014 election cycle and an incredibly lengthy appeals process from which a permissible map was derived just months before the 2016 election cycle.
As the Supreme Court indicated in Rucho v. Common Cause that political gerrymandering is an issue left solely to state resolution, the 2022 redistricting process presents looming concerns for many. This Comment will discuss the origins of gerrymandering, its impact in Florida, and recent solutions proposed and adopted throughout the nation. It will then turn to the topic of technological advancement, and the idea that redistricting may be most successful when left void of human manipulation through the use of computer algorithms. Research in the area will be evaluated and compared against other commonly adopted solutions. This Comment will then conclude with a discussion of how such a solution could be implemented in Florida and its power to create more transparent, meaningful elections.