Cracking
Definition
Cracking is a redistricting technique that splits a disfavored group's voters across many districts. In each one they're too small a share of the electorate to swing the outcome, so their votes stop mattering anywhere.1
Why it matters
Cracking is how map-drawers erase a group's statewide influence without removing anyone's right to vote. Paired with packing elsewhere in the same map, it lets a legislature lock in seat outcomes years before an election happens. Brennan Center found this pattern helped produce a net 16-seat national House advantage in the 2024 cycle.2
Seen in the wild
Brennan Center for Justice's 2024 House gerrymandering analysis found congressional maps that cycle produced a 16-seat net partisan advantage nationally, with only 27 districts decided by less than 5 points, a signature of cracked and packed districts.2