Why is this even allowed to happen? Aren't you American citizens shocked? It seems like America is littered with voting districts shaped like Rorschach ink blots, long thin skinny ones, even ones with holes in, just to guarantee a safe seat for one part - and it's done time and again with bipartisan support, trading a safe seat for one here with a safe seat for the other there. The ridiculous redistricting goes on for election after election and there seems to be no process to make them sensible (the only control is the census and that seems only to be used for further gerrymandering).
Apparently only 29 of 435 House seats are are listed as competitive by Congressional Quarterly. The incumbent re-election rate in 2002 was 99%. "If you had any doubt that redistricting is stifling electoral competition, you need only look at the Senate, where the process does not apply. Of the 34 Senate races this year, a dozen could change hands." (Quotes from The Economist, but articles not available online.)
Ultimately this deprives citizens in those districts of some of their democratic rights; especially it prevents change in representation. This is surely one of the factors affecting voter turnout levels.
joe
Gerrymandering is an electoral system pathology