A US Parliamentary System

[Smid]

Read might possibly be more applicable for Delaware, rather than Maryland, too, along with (possibly) Rodney (Caesar Rodney, another signatory).

[Luóbótè Bèiĕrdé]

Boo. I don't like Australian-style naming.

Canada has the best nomenclature.

[PASOK Leader Hashemite]

I was bored, so I helped out and did Idaho. Do note that I suck at redistricting.



ID-1 (431,247; -71)
ID-2 (431,810; +492)
ID-3 (430,896; -422

[PASOK Leader Hashemite]

NM-1 (blue): 50% H, 40% W, 4% Native
NM-2 (green): 46% W, 44% H, 3% Native
NM-3 (purple): 44% W, 26% H, 25% Native
NM-4 (red): 47% W, 46% H

[Smid]

So how do we think these Districts would vote? Since the way to change government is by changing which party holds the most districts, ignore the benefits of incumbency.

[Smid]

Based on votes for the Presidency:

District 1 - Frederick-Hagerstown -
District 2 - Hopkins -
District 3 - Tubman -
District 4 - Douglass -
District 5 - Baltimore West-Catonsville -
District 6 - Baltimore North -
District 7 - Rockville -
District 8 - Henson -
District 9 - Bowie -
District 10 - Marshall -
District 11 - Key -
District 12 - Annapolis -
District 13 - Salisbury - Approx 55.65% R 2008, 60.17% R 2004, 53.72% R 2000, which is R+9.78, R+8.93, R+5.54 for an average of R+8.08 across the three elections.

[muon2]

NM-1 (blue): 50% H, 40% W, 4% Native
NM-2 (green): 46% W, 44% H, 3% Native
NM-3 (purple): 44% W, 26% H, 25% Native
NM-4 (red): 47% W, 46% H

The VRA requires a test that a minority group be able to elect candidates of their choice when they constitute a majority of a population in an area. Using that standard, I assumed that there would be a push for districts where the population was a bit more than 50% of a particular group. By splitting Sandoval and Santa Fe as well as Bernalillo county I can get the following breakdown. Note that all districts end up within 100 of the ideal population.

NM-1 Albuquerque East - Farmington (blue +37 from ideal) 48% W, 19% H, 27% NA
NM-2 Albuquerque West - Santa Fe West (green -72 from ideal) 57% H
NM-3 Albuquerque North - Las Cruces (purple -52 from ideal) 54% H
NM-4 Santa Fe East - Roswell (red +85 from ideal) 56% W



The downside of this design was the shape of the districts in Albuquerque. The Hispanic population concentrates in a north-south band across the state through Albuquerque along the river. There isn't enough population west of this band for a district so it needs to link to the east side of the city which I did through the Native area south of the city. The result is NM-1.

It also turns out that the midpoint in the population of that north-south band is in the city of Albuquerque. With the constraints placed on shape of the band by NM-1, I got the unusual effect of NM-2 linking southern areas in Albuquerque with Santa Fe, and NM-3 linking northern areas of the city with Las Cruces.

[Luóbótè Bèiĕrdé]

That map reminds me of Saskatchewan.

[muon2]

I was bored, so I helped out and did Idaho. Do note that I suck at redistricting.



ID-1 (431,247; -71)
ID-2 (431,810; +492)
ID-3 (430,896; -422

I thought I would see if I could eliminate the county splits. Linking Nampa and Idaho Falls isn't obvious, but it makes it work. I also checked that all the counties in district 1 are connectible by roads without leaving the district. I used the 2008 population to draw the districts, since that was the standard for the other maps so far.

ID-1 Coeur d'Alene (blue, +1132 from ideal)
ID-2 Boise (green, -741 from ideal)
ID-3 Nampa - Idaho Falls (purple, -392 from ideal)