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Study: Gerrymandering gave Republicans an advantage in last year's election

Republicans won 22 seats in Congress more than they should, and gerrymandering is to blame. That’s according to a new study analyzed by the Associated Press. The study also concluded that Michigan is one of the states where gerrymandering had the greatest influence in last November’s election. Gerrymandering’ means to manipulate the boundaries of a district in order to favor a political party or class. 

The study analyzed 435 U.S. House races and 4700 state legislative races nationally from last year’s election using a mathematical equation that determines whether any partisan advantage took place. The Associated Press concluded that even though republicans and democrats in Michigan had close to an equal amount of voter turnout in November, republicans walked away with 63 house seats with democrats winning only because of the districts’ borders.

The probability that the Republican advantage in Michigan’s 110 State House Districts would occur by chance was 1 in 16,000, according to the Princeton University Gerrymandering Project.

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