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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: The Monstrous Gerrymander
Description: Elbridge Gerry, a founding father and governor of Massachusetts, rearranged the electoral districts of a map in order to give his Democratic Republican party an electoral advantage on 11th February 1812Despite Gerry's other, more noble, contributions to American politics, this act of “gerrymandering” has brought him unintended infamy - though the history of this dubious practice predates him, with political operatives in 18th-century England creating "rotten boroughs" to secure seats in parliament.In this episode, The Retrospectors reveal how the outrageous ‘tradition’ continues today, involving techniques like "cracking" and "packing"...