Gerrymandering is when district boundaries are manipulated in order to establish political advantage for one party or group. This action is typically used to hinder a particular demographic, whether it is ethnic, racial, class, religion or political party.
Below is an example of United States congressional districts in Texas gerrymandering Travis County, which is heavily Democratic, in order to dilute the Democrats’ strength and make the districts more Republican. Governor Rick Perry signed this redistricting into law in 2011, effecting the 2012 elections. Currently, there is a pending lawsuit against the redistricting.