What gerrymandering means
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Gerrymandering refers to the deliberate drawing of electoral boundaries to favour a particular party or group, typically by concentrating opposing voters into a small number of districts or spreading them thinly across many, rather than drawing boundaries on neutral criteria, however small it might initially seem, which is not always obvious from the outside.
The term originated from a distinctively shaped electoral district created in the early nineteenth century, and it has since become a general label applied whenever boundary drawing appears designed to produce a political advantage rather than a fair reflection of the population, which is one reason the rules keep evolving.
Because boundaries drawn this way can distort results even when the total votes cast for each side remain unchanged, independent boundary commissions are widely regarded as an important safeguard against the practice taking hold, a point worth keeping in mind going forward, as most functioning systems eventually demonstrate.