Arnold Schwarzenegger became aware of extreme gerrymandering in California after becoming governor, observing oddly shaped districts like the 'swan,' the 'Jesus district,' and a 385-sided polygon. The manipulative district boundaries entrenched partisan control, preventing voters' preferences from changing seat outcomes; in 2004 none of California's 153 congressional and state legislative seats changed party. The undemocratic effect spurred a reformist agenda focused on removing redistricting power from the legislature. The initial reform proposal sought to appoint a panel of judges to redraw district lines to ensure fairer electoral boundaries and restore voter influence.
One district in the eastern part of the state had such a long, thin middle section it was nicknamed the swan. Another was known as the Jesus district because you had to walk on water to get from one side to the other. Yet another, in LA's San Fernando Valley, was memorably described by the Stanford law professor Pam Karlan as a ghastly-looking, multi-headed, insect-like polygon with 385 sides.
What shocked Schwarzenegger was not that Democrats, then as now in control of the state legislature, were stealing seats from Republicans. (Decades earlier, Republicans had done much the same in the opposite direction.) It was, rather, that gerrymandering neutered the power of people's votes. The year before his speech, in 2004, not a single one of California's 153 congressional and state legislative seats changed party hands.
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