Electoral Regions

Spatial units designed to provide representation to the electorate, based on a set number or percentage of the voters. These may be found at various scales. In the United States they range from local city precincts and wards, to state senate and house districts, as well as states themselves for state-wide offices; to congressional house districts, and finally to the individual states, which function as electoral regions for U.S. senators, and finally to all 50 states collectively—the electoral region for U.S. presidents. Some informal groupings have emerged in the discussion of electoral regions in recent years, primarily based on the popular notion of “red” (Republican) states and “blue” (Democrat) states, and associated clusters of these states based on voting patterns. Some electoral regions are dynamic and change shape on a regular basis in the United States. One example is congressional districts, which are redrawn every 10 years, based on the results of the U.S. census.

These electoral regions change shape, and typically change the number of people they represent over time. This is because the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is set at 435, and the number of representatives a state receives is based on the state’s population. If a state gains population from one census to another in proportion to other states, it will gain additional representatives, and therefore must add new electoral regions in the form of congressional districts. If it loses population vis-a`-vis other states, it loses one or more seats in the House, and still must redraw the boundaries of its congressional districts. Districts with controversial boundaries are often labeled gerrymandered districts.

The electoral regions for U.S. senators do not change over time, because these regions are the states themselves, since each state is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution representation by two senators in the United States Senate. Likewise, in presidential elections, the electoral region is all 50 states collectively and the District of Columbia as represented through the Electoral College, in which 570 total electoral votes are available. However, the number of electoral votes assigned to each state changes every 10 years with new census results, although the number of electoral votes assigned to the District of Columbia remains constant. Moreover, this is not to suggest that the geography of presidential elections is somehow static—regions of the country tend to change their political tendencies over time, a fact that makes the element of spatial strategy in presidential campaigns of paramount importance. 

For example, in the early 20th century, states in New England and the upper Midwest often supported Republican presidential candidates, while the American South consistently and solidly backed Democratic candidates. In the elections of 1920, 1924, and 1928 the Republican candidates (who all won their respective elections) carried every state in New England and the upper Midwest with the exception of Wisconsin in 1924, and Massachusetts in 1928. States in the Deep South almost uniformly supported the Democratic candidate in each election. This had been the case as well in the elections of 1900, 1904, and 1908, again all won by the Republican candidate. At the beginning of the 21st century, this geographical pattern has almost completely reversed, with the South now a Republican bastion in most elections, and New England and the upper Midwest solidly in the Democratic column in most elections. The shape, size, and location of electoral regions and their political characteristics change as often as attitudes and allegiances do in politics.