Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:35:05 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: "Turner, Jim" <Jim.Turner () mail house gov> Date: February 15, 2007 6:22:06 PM EST To: "'dave () farber net'" <dave () farber net>, ip () v2 listbox com Subject: RE: [IP] Re: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution Dave,Scientists and Engineers for America, www.sefora.org , is going to put together a group later this year to think through this issue in the hopes of being ready with an appropriate mathematical approach for redistricting and
court challenges after the 2010 census. Anyone who wants to participate could contact me at my home email. jameshturnerjr () gmail com Jim Turner -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 3:25 PM To: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: [IP] Re: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution Begin forwarded message: From: Dennis Paull <dpaull () svpal org> Date: February 15, 2007 2:50:29 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution Hi David, This is my response to Stephen Unger's proposal, for IP if you choose. I agree completely that a simple, unambiguous procedure for redistricting is very desirable. However the proposed solution ignores some important additional considerations. These are political subdivisions and geography. I think it very desirable for district boundaries to follow existing city and county boundaries wherever possible. And, of course, it needs to follow precinct boundaries as well. Since precincts are usually pretty small, that should not be too much of a problem. Geography is another matter completely, since there is no nice definition of a geographically compact region. Gerrymandering has already created districts that cross major rivers and mountain ranges, for example. In general, I propose that districts should be as compact as possible and not unnecessarily cross geographic boundaries.. Proportional representation seems like an appropriate solution but suffers from the fact that the candidates must be ordered in some way so that if a party gets X% of the vote, the top X% of the party's candidates get elected. But who orders the party list? Is it the party leaders, the voters, a random number generator or who? Thanks, Dave, for allowing this topic onto your IP list. Dennis Paull Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 650-712-0498 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Stephen Unger <unger () cs columbia edu> Date: February 15, 2007 11:22:46 AM EST To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution Redistricting is a perennial (used to be every decade, but now cropping up more often) problem that significantly distorts the political arena. For example, there are a number of states where, despite having received many fewer total votes in elections for the House, the Republicans have won most of the seats as a result of gerrymandering. (Of course BOTH parties have done this sort of thing for two centuries.) Setting rules for redistricting is very difficult, even in principle. But there is a very nice mathematical solution that is inherently neutral,leaving no room for manipulation. I have just posted an article describing the problem and solution on my blog at: http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/myBlog/endsandmeansblog.html (An earlier posting on the blog is a somewhat revised version of my e-voting article.) Steve ............ ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/@now Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution David Farber (Feb 15)
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- Re: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution David Farber (Feb 15)
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- Re: Redistricting: Problem and Proposed Solution David Farber (Feb 15)