In push to end gerrymandering, an unlikely state steps into the spotlight

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Jocelyn Benson
@JocelynBenson
In Michigan, if a citizens’ commission can draw fair political districts that meet legal requirements, balance competing interests & effectively engage the public in drawing the maps, our work will be a “model for other states to follow in the future.” 🙌🏼

In push to end gerrymandering, an unlikely state steps into the spotlight
If deeply partisan Michigan can redraw its political lines, there’s “hope for other places that also might seem hopeless," an expert said.
nbcnews.com
4:59 AM · Jul 3, 2021

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-s-push-end-gerrymandering-offers-hope-divided-nation-advocates-n1272989

PORT HURON, Mich. — In a country where Democrats and Republicans have spent the past year battling over allegations of election fraud and attempts at voter suppression, the earnest scene playing out in a conference room here last week almost didn't make sense.

The stakes were high. A commission charged with redrawing Michigan's political boundaries was preparing to make crucial decisions that could affect the future of the state — and even the nation.

Yet there was no heckling, no chanting, no catcalls.

Instead, the roughly 70 people gathered in a brightly lit convention hall at the base of an international bridge that connects Michigan with Canada listened respectfully as one speaker after another offered ideas for how the state’s legislative and congressional districts should be drawn.

*snip*

[rickyhall]

1. IF.....

[crickets]

2. This sounds really promising.

It's especially heartening to see people taking it seriously while not getting overly emotional about it. Good luck to them. I hope they find success in redrawing districts in a fair manner that pleases as many people as possible.

Also interesting, and promising, is the tweet a little further down about similar efforts involving a prize winning science research project developed by middle school students:

Link to tweet

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinanderton/2020/11/10/middle-students-solve-the-issue-of-gerrymandering-and-win-10000-prize-infographic/

Though middle schoolers Kai Vernooy, James Lian, and Arin Khare are not of voting age yet, they decided to use scientific research to find a solution to this prevalent issue. First, they analyzed the problem by coming up with a method to measure the level of gerrymandering present in each state. They did this by identifying political communities and regions of like-minded voters. Then they grouped those communities together to form precincts. Each precinct was adjusted to include a compact or circle-like shape, a similar population size and a similar partisanship ratio. The result was a simple representation of where groups of like-minded voters live in each state.

These precincts were then compared to actual voting districts within the state. The comparison shows the percentage of people that are in the precinct but not the district, therefore illuminating the number of people that the district fails to represent. Using this method, they were able to give each state a gerrymandering score.

To help shed some light on this process we will use Alabama as an example. Kai explained that, “Alabama is a good example of a state that has experienced partisan gerrymandering over the last decade. In the 2010 redistricting cycle, Republicans drew district lines to pack together several major Democratic communities into a single district, ensuring that Democrats were only elected to one seat. Alabama's District 7, shown here in yellow, reaches into several other districts' regions to pick out Democratic voters.”

The algorithm that the team created to determine a state’s gerrymandering level gave Alabama a fairly high score as the 15th most gerrymandered state in the country. On top of that, it identified the 7th district as the most gerrymandered in the state. This same scoring method was used to determine whether or not new district lines were better or worse.

They did a good job. The results for AL showed a 93.43% decrease in the gerrymander score. Let them have a go at all 50 states - it's bound to be a vast improvement from what we have now.