political geographies, geographical politics

Political Geographies, Geographical Politics


The geography of the U.S. democratic system—this geography profoundly shapes political “voice”, election outcomes, etc.

1) In the US system, citizens are represented on a geographical basis (as opposed to social group, for example).



2) There is a peculiar geography to the way the president is elected

+ there is no popular “national” election for the president

+ instead there is a two-step process involving 50 individual state-level

elections in November leading to a national election in December.

+ this is what is referred to as the “electoral college” system+ this is what is referred to as the “electoral college” system


+ delegates (members of the electoral college) elect the president

+ delegates are selected by parties (each party selects the same number of

delegates; # of delegates for each state is based on state’s population)


2) There is a peculiar geography to the way the president is elected

+ when you vote for president you are actually choosing a slate of

+ remember: the state is the territorial unit at which it operates, i.e. states

elect presidents, not people directly

+ whichever party slate wins popular vote becomes the state’s electors

+ winner-take-all system (in all but several states)

Example: In Georgia, Bush received 58% popular vote but got all of the

electoral votes (15).

+ when you vote for president you are actually choosing a slate of

delegates or electors that will represent your state


County-level map of popular vote

for president, 2004

Red = solid Bush (> 75%)

Blue = solid Kerry (> 75%)

2004 Presidential Election

Purple = split (50%/50%)


Map of electoral votes for

president, 2004

Red = Bush

Blue = Kerry



County-level map of popular vote

for president, 2004

Red = solid Bush (> 75%)

Blue = solid Gore (> 75%)


Purple = split (50%/50%)


Map of electoral votes for

president, 2004

Red = Bush

Blue = Gore



+ thus, president is not chosen by popular vote

Example: Bush versus Gore in 2000

Electoral votes needed to win: 270

Bush won the election with 271 electoral votes even though Gore received more popular votes (51 mil to 50.4 mil)to 50.4 mil)

+ this affects spatial strategies of presidential campaigns

Why have this system?


II. Geographical politics

A. The US democratic system

--reapportionment, redistricting, and gerrymandering

+ reapportionment � allocating electoral seats to geog areas

+ redistricting �

+ gerrymandering �

(re)defining territorial district boundaries

* Both endeavors to maintain keep population and representation matched for

the territorial unit

redistricting for partisan purposes


gerrymandering � redistricting for partisan purposes



Redrawing the balanced electoral districts in this example creates a

guaranteed 3-to-1 advantage in representation for the blue voters.

Here, 14 red voters are packed into the light green district and the

remaining 18 are cracked across the 3 blue districts.

political geographies, geographical politics

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