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Abstract

Partisan Gerrymandering is the self-interested manipulation of electoral boarder districts and is often criticised for leading to a misrepresentation of voter preferences. I use a dynamic contest model to show that such misrepresentation does not occur in a sequential Gerrymandering process. In this model, two political parties compete in an election across an odd number of single-member districts. The electorate is divided between two fractions of partisan voters. Both parties choose electoral districts in alternating order by allocating partisan voters to each district. Each party aims at winning a majority of districts and there is no uncertainty about voters’ partisanship. In equilibrium, the party with a majority in the popular vote wins a majority of the districts. Neither party has a first-mover or a second-mover advantage, because the two parties’ strategic redistricting choices neutralise each other.