US House Redistricting: Arizona

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

It would be interesting to know that the 2001 grid map looked like.

Here's the initial grid:



Here's the draft map based on the grid:



Here are transcripts and minutes from the previous Commission's meetings.

http://2001.azredistricting.org/?page=meetings

And the motherload- here are videos of the current Commission's meetings.

http://www.azredistricting.org/Meeting-Info/default.asp

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Oh, and here's a live stream of the current meeting, which is just starting:

http://www.azredistricting.org/stream/default.asp

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Yesterday the commission discussed a map where they modified the second grid option to conform to the VRA. It looked similar to Torie's map except:

• They didn't do the Hopi-Navajo gerrymander, and
• The tan district on Torie's map went further southeast. It looked more like a Pinal-Tucson district.

It's important to note that it's still an early draft, and conforms only to the VRA and the requirements met by the grid map.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Yesterday the commission discussed a map where they modified the second grid option to conform to the VRA. It looked similar to Torie's map except:

• They didn't do the Hopi-Navajo gerrymander, and
• The tan district on Torie's map went further southeast. It looked more like a Pinal-Tucson district.

It's important to note that it's still an early draft, and conforms only to the VRA and the requirements met by the grid map.

Interesting. I can't find the new map.  IF AZ-03 took the rest of Pinal and some of Pima near Tuscon, chewing in to AZ-01 in my map, what territory did AZ-01 take to replace it?  AZ-02 must have picked up more than just Yuma County if AZ-01 has to take more of Pima.

That's because the new map hasn't been posted. I watched the live stream yesterday. When the video goes up on the website, I'll see if I can get a screenshot.

Yep.

The orginal map the Democrats came up with was absurd.

They have had to back down.

I should just point out that the "orignal map the Democrats came up with" is no more than a (legally required) foundation upon which to build. Since the Commission is not allowed to use the current districts as a baseline, they draw what they call a "grid map" to provide a starting point for redistricting. The "original map" of which you speak is one of these "grid maps." The Commission hasn't even yet considered most of the conditions that they are required to consider, such as respect for communities of interest.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

The next meeting of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will be Thursday, 12:00 PM local time (3:00 PM Eastern). The Hispanic Coalition for Good Government, as well as other individuals and groups, are scheduled to present and submit Congressional and Legislative maps to the Commission. The Commission will also review, discuss, and direct to the mapping consultant, ideas for possible adjustments to Congressional and Legislative grid maps based on constitutional criteria.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Here are the maps that were discussed during Monday's meeting. Again, these are simply modifications to the grid map designed to draw two Hispanic-majority districts. They are far from being the finished product.

I apologize for the low quality, but the quality of the source video leaves something to be desired. Still, at least Arizona gives us an opportunity to observe the process.

First, a statewide view:



And here's a close up of the Maricopa County area:



The map is color coded to Hispanic percentage; the darker green a precinct is, the more Hispanic it is.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Vazdul - interesting. Are we to take it that that's their idea of what the southern Hispanic district should look like? Ie, that they'll keep it Tucson-to-West End? Interesting detail about getting Eloy in, most of the reason why I didn't was the precinct design wasn't kind to me.
That does look as if they'll eventually excise Tucson from that Chandler-Pinal district. Which of course would probably mean the old 8th probably remains much as is, though perhaps not. I can certainly see why Torie - and a certain R member of the Commission - is fascinated with the alternative.

Well, they're bound to make some changes. The mapping consultants referred to Nogales, Tucson, and Yuma as the three concentrations of Hispanics that make a Hispanic-majority district in that area possible (that's almost verbatim), so it's pretty much a given that the district will end up including all three. However, they also talked about cleaning up the lines between that district and the one that replaces the current 8th, should they decide to proceed with the modified map. They also discussed the idea of three border districts, but pretty much dismissed it outright, saying it would be very difficult if not impossible to do while conforming to the VRA. They also said a potential issue with the map was with the northeastern district not being compact enough.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

The commission held a meeting today in which they discussed possible changes to the grid maps. I have pictures.

The first map was drawn to accommodate a Colorado River District in the western part of the state. It also has two Hispanic-majority districts. This early draft has several issues; most notably it does not respect tribal boundaries and it splits Flagstaff.


This is a close up of Yuma. Darker red indicates a higher Hispanic percentage.


This is a close up of Maricopa County. Darker green indicates a higher total population.


This is the map from Monday's meeting that has been further altered so as not to split Native American reservations. Testimony before the commission seems to indicate that the Hopi and Navajo are agreeable to being in the same district.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Because I was distracted, I missed much of the discussion on legislative maps, but I'm under the impression that two separate maps were drawn to conform to the VRA. Here is the first.


This is the same map, color coded to show which districts are Hispanic-majority (the darker green ones). The northeast district is majority Native American.


This is a close up of Maricopa County, using the same color scheme as the previous picture. Some of the districts which do not have an outright Hispanic majority are coalition districts.


This is a close up of Maricopa County on the second map (I missed the statewide view, unfortunately).


This is a comparison between the two legislative maps. Red boundaries are from the second map, green boundaries from the first. Brown boundaries are the same in both plans.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Here are some maps for individual districts that were proposed by certain groups during yesterday's meeting.

First, a map proposed by the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government:


A close up of their proposed Maricopa County Hispanic district:


A close up of the split in Pinal County:


A close up of Tucson:


And a close up of Yuma:


Next is a partial legislative map advocated by the city of Flagstaff:


And a map for the northeastern Congressional district advocated by the city of Flagstaff:


And statistics for the city of Flagstaff maps:

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

The Redistricting Commission is meeting today. The Pinal County Governmental Alliance presented this. I missed most of the presentation, so I don't know what was discussed.

They are currently discussing changes to the congressional grid map to accomodate three border districts. They say that the map will be on the website soon, so I shouldn't have to bother with low-quality screenshots.

EDIT: Here is an update to their "river district" plan, which they've yet to discuss.

And this is the three border district plan. It still manages to get two Hispanic-majority districts, but it's quite ugly.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Here are the legislative maps that the commission is currently discussing.

http://www.azredistricting.org/Maps/pubmaps/Leg-9_minoity_dists_option1-no_split_res-exports/Leg-9_minority_dists_option1-no_split_res.pdf

http://www.azredistricting.org/Maps/pubmaps/Leg-9_minoity_dists_option2-no_split_res-exports/Leg-9_minority_dists_option2-no_split_res.pdf

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

What the heck are they babbling about? That map is basically a dem gerrymander.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.azredistricting.org/maps/pubmaps/092911/cong-EB-v3a.kmz&hl=en&sll=34.161818,-111.928711&sspn=8.21418,17.53418&vpsrc=0&t=h&z=6

The orange district does not even pretend to be neutral.

That's the map that was voted down. This is the map that was approved. The remaining 4 Maricopa County districts have yet to be drawn.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

What the heck are they babbling about? That map is basically a dem gerrymander.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.azredistricting.org/maps/pubmaps/092911/cong-EB-v3a.kmz&hl=en&sll=34.161818,-111.928711&sspn=8.21418,17.53418&vpsrc=0&t=h&z=6

The orange district does not even pretend to be neutral.

That's the map that was voted down. This is the map that was approved. The remaining 4 Maricopa County districts have yet to be drawn.

Both the maps look the same, except of course the Maricopa districts haven't been drawn. I doubt CD-2 is up to full population either.

I assume you are referring to the northwestern district. It isn't up to full population. There is some debate as to which parts of Maricopa to add to it to bring it up to population.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

The GOP got some very desirable changes.

http://www.azredistricting.org/Maps/pubmaps/100311/Map_as_of_100211/Cong-Map_as_of_100211.pdf

The Green district is absurd though

The funny thing is that the Republicans on the Commission don't seem to think that those changes are very desirable. Mathis, Herrera, and McNulty voted yes, Stertz voted no, and Freeman abstained.