Ohio Redistricting Contest

[jimrtex]

I see that jimrtex has posted a ward file for Cleveland on district builder. Are those the boundaries that should be used to meet the constitutional requirements?

Those match the boundaries on the Cuyahoga BOE web site (as far as I am able to do it).  If you notice, they have the wrong population (each has the total population of Cleveland).

What I was trying to do was renumber them.  I had drawn all the wards.  I would lock all the "districts", and then unlock one, desassign it geography, and then select Cleveland.  When you select an area that is partially locked, then only the unlocked area is selected.  I then assigned that to a new district with the correct number.  The assignment seems to work fine, and it calculates contiguity and compactness, but it gets the population for the entire selected area.

I am concerned that if you have created a district and locked it, and then are drawing the district on the other side of the boundary by lassoing across the boundary, that it may be calculating the wrong population, by a tens.  I don't see anything substantively different between selecting an entire city with most of it locked, and selecting a dozen blocks, with a few of them locked, other than the magnitude, and the selection tool.

Cleveland had 21 wards, and that is what the census bureau has for VTDs (actually they have the election precincts, which are numbered with the ward number and the letter.  If you recall from the previous contest, Ohio did not define VTD's for the 2000 census, and the people doing the contest ended up having to define them.  So it may be that they tried to do a better job.  The Cuyahoga BOE maps don't always match census blocks, so it appears that they still haven't got the counties to conform to census geography or talk the census bureau into making adjustments for the counties (this happens in areas where streets don't completely cut through a block, and so the census bureau tends to not like to use projections as block boundaries.

Fairly recently 2008(?), Cleveland reduced the size of its city council to 19, and drew the new wards.  So I'm pretty sure these wards were in place at the time of the 2010 census (see
§ 11.06 of Ohio Constitution, though it is possible the legislature has directed otherwise).  If you look at the ward maps, or alternatively, the house district maps, you will see that they are not 100% in conformance.  But it looks like the new districts were drawn in an attempt to match up.  Given that they are so new, they are not very equal in size.  This may be due to an impossible attempt to match 19 wards up to districts drawn to match 21 wards (there are no house districts entirely in Cleveland, so they each have just a few wards).  There are two house districts that include disjoint areas of Cleveland.  One uses Bratenahl as a connector, and the other uses Cuyahoga Heights and Brooklyn Heights.  There was perhaps an attempt to keep more black-majority wards, as they are generally less populated.

The charter also, now (2010(?), requires the size of the city council to vary based on the population, with a reduction of 2 wards for every 50,000 loss in population.  Cleveland is now in the 17-ward bracket (375,000 to 425,000, with a 2000 population of 396,000.   So they will have to further redraw the ward boundaries.   The 5 wards along the shoreline out towards Euclid will have to be reduced to 4, likely eliminating Ward 9 which is the lowest black VAP% in eastern Cleveland and has Case Western Reserve at its southern tip.  The other ward to go would be Ward 12 which is the ward that wraps around Cuyahoga Heights with the eastern half distributed towards 5 wards in southeast Cleveland, and the western half shifted toward the west.  The 3 central wards (3, 14, and 13) are right about on target for a 17-ward apportionment, so there will have to be an eastward shift of the wards as the population is gradually absorbed going west.

It really doesn't make sense to use wards as building blocks for districts.  It doesn't necessarily simplify administration of elections, since the wards change, so that there is not a total correspondence.    In addition, since wards have quite similar populations it may be difficult to combine in districts.  With an average population equivalent to 0.180 house districts, 5 wards equals 0.900 house districts, while 6 wards equal 1.080 house districts.  This helps explains while all the house districts end up going outside Cleveland to pick up towns, since these are of varying sizes.  It would be better to let larger cities (50,000+?) to delineate neighborhoods in the range of 5,000 to 25,000 which would be used for constructing districts.

I'm not sure that it is possible to draw two black majority VAP senate districts in Cuyahoga County.  If you take the entire black VAP and divide by 6/11 of the total VAP (6/11 is the share of the population contained in 6 of 11 house districts in the county), you get 52.0%.  That is, if the age distribution of the black population is the same as the total population and you totally disregarded geography, you get only get two senate districts with 52.% black VAP.  If the other 5 house districts went above 2.5% black it would be too much, and places like Solon, Lakewood, and Pepper Pike have 10%, 7%, and 6% VAP%, respectively.

The adult population relative to the total population has some variance, but not that much.   The wards with a high percentage of adults are Ward 3 including downtown; Ward 9 which includes Case Western Reserve, and Ward 19 on the far west, south of Lakewood.

The least adult is Ward 5 east of downtown, and which appears to have lots of housing projects.  The other young wards mostly in the western part of the city and appear to be associated with a Hispanic population.  If an area has a relatively low share of adults, then you can use the children to meet OMOV, and need fewer adults to get to 50% VAP.

I have 4 majority black VAP, 65.4%, 53,5%, 63.2%, 62.0% which are mainly east-west in a stack, with each extending into the suburbs.  I then have a north-south suburban district at 35.6%, which is trio-ed with the northern two districts, for a senate district at 51.5%.

The two southern districts are then trio-ed with a western district.  But that district is 12.7% black VAP, making the senate district 45.4% BVAP.  

I made one ward swap to make the western districts more equal in population (+2.0% and +3.2%, vs +0.7% and 4.5%)   If I switch those, then I can get the senate district up to 46.7% BVAP.  But, I really don't like pushing a district so close to 5.0% deviation unless I can avoid splitting something.  Or I could draw a different house district in the west running from west of downtown southwestward towards the airport, and get the senate district up to 48.0% BVAP.  But that would require redoing all the western suburban districts since it would isolate Lakewood.  And it would require another city be split, probably Parma.

The plan I have now has a Hispanic VAP% of 7.5%, so I am over 50% minority VAP.  Does that count for anything under the VRA?  Whether it counts for scoring in the contest is another question.

It might be feasible to get 5 majority black VAP house districts, in the mid-50s.  That would make the senate differential a bit worse.

I am inclined to leave it as drawn.  There are 7 wards that are over 85 BVAP%, so I think I did a reasonable job of avoiding a pack.

I just realized that since they have partisan data, they have to have mapping of blocks to election precincts.  The instructional video for Michigan said that they were using census tracts for one of the layers.  So what are the advantages of census blocks vs. VTDs, particularly since you can avoid making assumptions about weighting of voters, and the wards are comprised of blocks.

PS the North Olmsted annexation appears to have occurred in 2000, just a few months after the census.

390351109011007

[jimrtex]

Final Cuyahoga Map

The senate districts will be:

16, 6, 7
8, 9, Geauga-Ashtabula
10, 11, 12
13, 14, 15

[muon2]

It really doesn't make sense to use wards as building blocks for districts.  It doesn't necessarily simplify administration of elections, since the wards change, so that there is not a total correspondence.    In addition, since wards have quite similar populations it may be difficult to combine in districts.  With an average population equivalent to 0.180 house districts, 5 wards equals 0.900 house districts, while 6 wards equal 1.080 house districts.  This helps explains while all the house districts end up going outside Cleveland to pick up towns, since these are of varying sizes.  It would be better to let larger cities (50,000+?) to delineate neighborhoods in the range of 5,000 to 25,000 which would be used for constructing districts.

Many large cities have fixed community areas recognized by the census and used for zoning and planning by the cities. I would favor more large cities adopting those, and then let them become building blocks for political districts.

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Final Cuyahoga Map

The senate districts will be:

16, 6, 7
8, 9, Geauga-Ashtabula
10, 11, 12
13, 14, 15

I was able to get two senate districts both over 50% black VAP, but I had to split the 11th district so that there are two pieces instead. That split also helped me resolve the problems maintaining constitutional splits for the rest of NE OH. Did you solve those? I haven't aligned the districts with your ward map, but I don't think it would change my numbers substantially. I'll try to post something.

Overall, I was able to make 4 black-majority senate districts. That is roughly proportional to the 11% statewide black VAP which would result in 3.74 districts. My goal is 11 house districts as well. I also note that making this sort of VRA map hurts competitiveness substantially, as it separates Dem inner cities from suburban areas.

[jimrtex]

I was able to get two senate districts both over 50% black VAP, but I had to split the 11th district so that there are two pieces instead. That split also helped me resolve the problems maintaining constitutional splits for the rest of NE OH. Did you solve those? I haven't aligned the districts with your ward map, but I don't think it would change my numbers substantially. I'll try to post something.

Overall, I was able to make 4 black-majority senate districts. That is roughly proportional to the 11% statewide black VAP which would result in 3.74 districts. My goal is 11 house districts as well. I also note that making this sort of VRA map hurts competitiveness substantially, as it separates Dem inner cities from suburban areas.

I plan to split Trumbull in three parts, with part placed with Ashtabula.

So that gives:

Cuyahoga(1) 2 + Geauga-Ashtabula
Lake(2) + Ashtabula-Trumbull
Portage(1) + Trumbull(1) + Portage-Trumbull-Stark

But maybe it would be better to use a non-standard split of Portage:

Lake(2) + Astabula(642)-Geauga(375)
Cuyahoga(2) + Geauga(591)-Portage(591)
Portage(1) + Trumbull(788)-Ashtabula(229) + Portage((794)-Stark(223)

I think the 2nd is better since both split a large county between senate districts, but only split it between two house districts.

Columbus has 81 wards (it has a 7 member city council elected at large).  So it should be possible to do whatever split you want to do there.

This should have the correct population

You can use cut and paste to import these into your map.  I would save a copy of your plan before starting this.  When you cut and paste, it renumbers the districts.

If you bring in all the Cleveland wards and lock them, you can then unlock selected ones and deassign all their geometry.  Then zoom out and Select on Cleveland.  That will select all of Cleveland that is not locked.  You can then assign that to a House district.  And then lock that.

[muon2]

I was able to get two senate districts both over 50% black VAP, but I had to split the 11th district so that there are two pieces instead. That split also helped me resolve the problems maintaining constitutional splits for the rest of NE OH. Did you solve those? I haven't aligned the districts with your ward map, but I don't think it would change my numbers substantially. I'll try to post something.

Overall, I was able to make 4 black-majority senate districts. That is roughly proportional to the 11% statewide black VAP which would result in 3.74 districts. My goal is 11 house districts as well. I also note that making this sort of VRA map hurts competitiveness substantially, as it separates Dem inner cities from suburban areas.

I plan to split Trumbull in three parts, with part placed with Ashtabula.

So that gives:

Cuyahoga(1) 2 + Geauga-Ashtabula
Lake(2) + Ashtabula-Trumbull
Portage(1) + Trumbull(1) + Portage-Trumbull-Stark

But maybe it would be better to use a non-standard split of Portage:

Lake(2) + Astabula(642)-Geauga(375)
Cuyahoga(2) + Geauga(591)-Portage(591)
Portage(1) + Trumbull(788)-Ashtabula(229) + Portage((794)-Stark(223)

I think the 2nd is better since both split a large county between senate districts, but only split it between two house districts.

Columbus has 81 wards (it has a 7 member city council elected at large).  So it should be possible to do whatever split you want to do there.

In order to get two black-majority districts in Cuyahoga, I'm think I'm letting Cuyahoga have the unconstitutional split. That gives me:

3 @ Cuyahoga(3)
Lake(2) + Cuyahoga-Geauga
Trumbull(1) + Trumbull-Ashtabula + Ashtabula-Geauga
Medina(1) + Cuyahoga(1) + Medina-Cuyahoga

I'm working on Franklin now, though I'm still not exactly clear on how many splits of the fractured townships are permitted.

[dpmapper]

Final Cuyahoga Map

The senate districts will be:

16, 6, 7
8, 9, Geauga-Ashtabula
10, 11, 12
13, 14, 15

Your second senate district doesn't seem to be majority black.  Did they change the rules so that it's only majority-minority that is required? 

[jimrtex]

Final Cuyahoga Map

The senate districts will be:

16, 6, 7
8, 9, Geauga-Ashtabula
10, 11, 12
13, 14, 15

Your second senate district doesn't seem to be majority black.  Did they change the rules so that it's only majority-minority that is required?  

I don't think it is possible, while also complying with the Ohio Constitution.

If you take the Cuyahogo BVAP, and divide by 6/11 of the Cuyahoga total VAP (ie the share of the VAP needed for 6 house districts) you get 52%.  That is, even if you had near perfect racial segregation, with all blacks in 6 house districts, where they comprised more than half the population, and no blacks in the other 5, you could just barely get a majority.  If the other 5 districts were only 2.5% black it would drive the 52% impossible.  And there are places like Lakewood and Solon that are closer to 10%.

You might be able to get 52.5% based on a difference in age structure.  Since blacks are slightly younger, black children can be used to get to the ideal district population, which would mean that there would be fewer adults in those districts, which would permit the black adults to be used for effectively.

But even at 52.5%, you also have to split the population almost perfectly between two senate districts.  Even a 5% difference is too much.  Then you have comply with town and Cleveland ward boundaries in forming the house districts, maintain the two house districts in western Cuyahoga county, and provide a connection to Geauga County for the shared senate district.

If you rank all cities and townships by BVAP%, and take those with the highest percentage equivalent that are equivalent to 6/11 of the population, the collective BVAP% is 50.07%.  So if you were able to form those into 6 house districts, and then two almost perfectly balanced senate districts you could do it.

But it uses Oakwood and Glenwillow, which cuts off the link to Geauga.  

I used Cleveland as a whole, but might do a tiny bit better if I cut about a couple of wards.

Separating out Cleveland by wards gets me to 50.32%, as wards 13 and 19 are excluded.  But this includes Walton Hills, Oakwood, Glenwillow, and Solon in the black senate area, and Mayfield Heights is isolated.

Removing those 4, Cleveland Ward 13 is put back in, and Pepper Pike is added as the link to Maple Heights.  That drops me to 49.80%.

Besides dropping below 50%, I've also isolated Lakewood and Ward 19.
So let's remove Ward 18 from the black area.  Add in Lyndhurst and Brooklyn, and  and I'm down to 49.13%.

If I add in Cuyahoga Heights and Brooklyn Heights, I can create 6 house districts, and 2 senate districts.

Overall BVAP% 48.98%, and the two senate seats at 48.81% and 48.98% (and I also am down to a majority BVAP in 3 house districts.


But compare to what I proposed, which was 48% overall, and 51.5% and 45.7%

Since you can't get to 50% in both senate districts, isn't it better to have a bit of imbalance?

[krazen1211]

Are you guys doing Ohio Senate maps dissolving a northeast district and relocating it to Columbus?

Vaporing SD-13 (Lorain, Elyria City) seems like it should be a top priority, and relocating that to the Columbus suburbs. Columbus Democrats themselves can be racked and packed into 1 district.


The Dayton district could probably be cracked it seems, successfully, if they chose to do it.


Here is my remapping of Cleveland. I also put Akron back into 1 district; SD-27 is a weak Republican district that should be stronger without Akron in it.

[dpmapper]

Is your district 23 divisible into 2 house seats in one county and 1 in the other?  If not then this violates more provisions of the Ohio constitution than is necessary. 

[jimrtex]

Are you guys doing Ohio Senate maps dissolving a northeast district and relocating it to Columbus?

Vaporing SD-13 (Lorain, Elyria City) seems like it should be a top priority, and relocating that to the Columbus suburbs. Columbus Democrats themselves can be racked and packed into 1 district.


The Dayton district could probably be cracked it seems, successfully, if they chose to do it.


Here is my remapping of Cleveland. I also put Akron back into 1 district; SD-27 is a weak Republican district that should be stronger without Akron in it.

All of Lorain has to be one senate district.

Any county with between 1.10 and 3 house seats has to be in one senate seat.

Any county with more than 3 house seats (including part of one) has to have [n_house/3] senate seats in the county, and any remnant in another senate district.

Ohio Constitution legislative redistricting requirements

You've also split off part of Cuyahoga in the east, failed to maintain the two existing house districts in West Cuyahoga that are in the 95% and 105%, split Parma and Brook Park, and probably are not aligned with Cleveland ward boundaries.

Senate districts must be comprised of 3 house districts.

[krazen1211]

Is your district 23 divisible into 2 house seats in one county and 1 in the other?  If not then this violates more provisions of the Ohio constitution than is necessary. 

Ugh, no. This is going to be very, very tricky, as I suppose you already noticed, at least in the Northeast. Back to the drawing board!

[dpmapper]

I plan to split Trumbull in three parts, with part placed with Ashtabula.

So that gives:

Cuyahoga(1) 2 + Geauga-Ashtabula
Lake(2) + Ashtabula-Trumbull
Portage(1) + Trumbull(1) + Portage-Trumbull-Stark

I don't think you can draw a district that is 80% in Trumbull, 20% in Ashtabula, and yet connects Lake to Trumbull by going along the PA border and the lakeshore.   

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There's a lot more Portage in this plan than in reality...

[muon2]

Is your district 23 divisible into 2 house seats in one county and 1 in the other?  If not then this violates more provisions of the Ohio constitution than is necessary. 

Ugh, no. This is going to be very, very tricky, as I suppose you already noticed, at least in the Northeast. Back to the drawing board!

Approach OH like you would MI. Both states have detailed requirements for building districts. The requirements are different and OH only has their requirements apply to the legislature, however.

[muon2]

This is my solution to the problems of NE OH. There must be one county treated in an unconstitutional manner due to the population distribution, so I chose Cuyahoga for that honor. The constitutional defect is that there should be 11 house seats entirely within the county but I have only 10 using the remainder to form two pieces linking to Geauga and Medina. This allows for three senate districts entirely within Cuyahoga, and two of them are majority black using the contest statistics (21 @ 50% and 25 @ 51%). All other counties are treated correctly for the house and senate. The senate image follows.

[dpmapper]

That is an elegant solution, muon!  For extra credit, how do you adapt it to make it a GOP gerrymander?   

[jimrtex]

I plan to split Trumbull in three parts, with part placed with Ashtabula.

So that gives:

Cuyahoga(1) 2 + Geauga-Ashtabula
Lake(2) + Ashtabula-Trumbull
Portage(1) + Trumbull(1) + Portage-Trumbull-Stark

I don't think you can draw a district that is 80% in Trumbull, 20% in Ashtabula, and yet connects Lake to Trumbull by going along the PA border and the lakeshore.   

Splits wpuld be:

Geauga 801-Ashtabula 216
Ashtabula 655-Trumbull 362
Trumbull 426-Portage 368-Stark 223

These assume that I can get enough from SE Ashtabula, so as to not cut off the population along Lake Erie, nor a corridor down the Pennsylvania line.

And also that I can create the link across Portage, between Stark and Trumbull

But maybe it would be better to use a non-standard split of Portage:

Lake(2) + Astabula(642)-Geauga(375)
Cuyahoga(2) + Geauga(591)-Portage(591)
Trumbull(1) + Trumbull(788)-Ashtabula(229) + Portage((794)-Stark(223)

There's a lot more Portage in this plan than in reality...

That is because you didn't anticipate me editing the whole seat back into Trumbull.  There is no whole seat in Portage under this plan.

[dpmapper]

I plan to split Trumbull in three parts, with part placed with Ashtabula.

So that gives:

Cuyahoga(1) 2 + Geauga-Ashtabula
Lake(2) + Ashtabula-Trumbull
Portage(1) + Trumbull(1) + Portage-Trumbull-Stark

I don't think you can draw a district that is 80% in Trumbull, 20% in Ashtabula, and yet connects Lake to Trumbull by going along the PA border and the lakeshore.   

Splits wpuld be:

Geauga 801-Ashtabula 216
Ashtabula 655-Trumbull 362
Trumbull 426-Portage 368-Stark 223

These assume that I can get enough from SE Ashtabula, so as to not cut off the population along Lake Erie, nor a corridor down the Pennsylvania line.

And also that I can create the link across Portage, between Stark and Trumbull

Ah, missed that Trumbull would be divided 3 ways. 

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There's a lot more Portage in this plan than in reality...
[/quote]
That is because you didn't anticipate me editing the whole seat back into Trumbull.  There is no whole seat in Portage under this plan.

[/quote]

Sneaky.   

[krazen1211]

Approach OH like you would MI. Both states have detailed requirements for building districts. The requirements are different and OH only has their requirements apply to the legislature, however.

What were your thoughts on breaking ward boundaries to create majority black districts? I started in Hamilton County, which is much easier than the northeast, and you can create a 4-2-1 delegation there by connecting the white areas of eastern Cincinnati with the white areas of western Cincinnati.

Butler County is of course very easy, and Warren + excess in Butler creates 2 house districts. Linking 2 in Warren + the 7th in Hamilton should be an option to create a Republican Senate district.

[jimrtex]

This is my solution to the problems of NE OH. There must be one county treated in an unconstitutional manner due to the population distribution, so I chose Cuyahoga for that honor. The constitutional defect is that there should be 11 house seats entirely within the county but I have only 10 using the remainder to form two pieces linking to Geauga and Medina. This allows for three senate districts entirely within Cuyahoga, and two of them are majority black using the contest statistics (21 @ 50% and 25 @ 51%). All other counties are treated correctly for the house and senate. The senate image follows.

Have you created 3 house districts in 21, without splitting wards?

I can do 50.33% and 50.25% and 6 house seats that don't split Cleveland wards or other cities.

But it has a house seat with a 49.37% BVAP.

[muon2]

This is my solution to the problems of NE OH. There must be one county treated in an unconstitutional manner due to the population distribution, so I chose Cuyahoga for that honor. The constitutional defect is that there should be 11 house seats entirely within the county but I have only 10 using the remainder to form two pieces linking to Geauga and Medina. This allows for three senate districts entirely within Cuyahoga, and two of them are majority black using the contest statistics (21 @ 50% and 25 @ 51%). All other counties are treated correctly for the house and senate. The senate image follows.

Have you created 3 house districts in 21, without splitting wards?

I can do 50.33% and 50.25% and 6 house seats that don't split Cleveland wards or other cities.

But it has a house seat with a 49.37% BVAP.

I have 4 house seats with over 50% BVAP and one in SE Cuyahoga just under 50%. I haven't aligned them to wards yet as I am working on other cities first.

[krazen1211]

Alrite, here is my first shot at Franklin County and surroundings.





10 districts are allotted to Franklin County. 2 more are allotted to Delaware + Union County.

Districts 13, 15, and 16 form Senate District 1. 13 and 16 are majority black VAP. All are 75-82% Democratic.

Districts 14, 17, and 22 form Senate District 2. 17 and 22 are lean R at 52% Republican; 14 is lean D at 54% Dem. The overall district is a tossup with a GOP incumbent who unfortunately lives just outside its borders but represents this territory.

Districts 18, 20, and 21 form Senate district 3. 18 and 20 are lean R at 52% Republican; 21 is lean D at 53% Democratic. Senate district is a tossup with a GOP incumbent.

Districts 19, 23, and 24 form Senate district 4. 19 is safe D at 57% Democratic; 23 and 24 are safe R at 60/64% Republican. Senate district is safe R for the incumbent in Marysville.

[muon2]

Approach OH like you would MI. Both states have detailed requirements for building districts. The requirements are different and OH only has their requirements apply to the legislature, however.

What were your thoughts on breaking ward boundaries to create majority black districts? I started in Hamilton County, which is much easier than the northeast, and you can create a 4-2-1 delegation there by connecting the white areas of eastern Cincinnati with the white areas of western Cincinnati.

Butler County is of course very easy, and Warren + excess in Butler creates 2 house districts. Linking 2 in Warren + the 7th in Hamilton should be an option to create a Republican Senate district.

My thought is that if it may be the case that a majority-minority district would be required, then it takes precedence over political boundary integrity. So, in Cleveland, where I can follow ward boundaries without sacrificing minority districts I do so. In Hamilton, I can barely create a senate district with over 50%. That forces me to ignore ward boundaries in Cinci.

[dpmapper]

krazen, that was my thought exactly for Columbus - make a packed Senate district and then add the most dem house district that remains to a senate seat outside.  I'm a little surprised you can't pack them even further into the 4 house districts, though.  

Here's my take on Cincinnati:



Butler + Hamilton = 10 house districts.  I took the reddest possible leftovers from Butler to help Hamilton.  Green, Blue, Purple districts in Butler are all 58-60% McCain and will obviously form a safe senate seat.  

The Yellow district is 54.2-44.8 McCain and hopefully should be enough to dislodge a Dem incumbent, it will get attached to two house seats not yet drawn (perhaps Clermont+Brown) to form a safe R senate seat.  
 
Cyan: 60.9% McCain, teal: 65.1% McCain, and grey: 60.3% McCain are all safe and form one senate seat, while the hole in the middle will be filled with 3 Dem house seats/one senate seat.  It might not be a VRA senate seat but I'm not sure if one is required.  If it is then the gerrymander might actually be easier to accomplish, since the city boundaries of Cincinnati will need to be breached by senate lines (and potentially, one could make one of the last three house seats a toss-up at least).   

[jimrtex]

This is my solution to the problems of NE OH. There must be one county treated in an unconstitutional manner due to the population distribution, so I chose Cuyahoga for that honor. The constitutional defect is that there should be 11 house seats entirely within the county but I have only 10 using the remainder to form two pieces linking to Geauga and Medina. This allows for three senate districts entirely within Cuyahoga, and two of them are majority black using the contest statistics (21 @ 50% and 25 @ 51%). All other counties are treated correctly for the house and senate. The senate image follows.

Have you created 3 house districts in 21, without splitting wards?

I can do 50.33% and 50.25% and 6 house seats that don't split Cleveland wards or other cities.

But it has a house seat with a 49.37% BVAP.

I have 4 house seats with over 50% BVAP and one in SE Cuyahoga just under 50%. I haven't aligned them to wards yet as I am working on other cities first.

Try this:

S 25: 50.34%

H A: 61.56% Euc, RiH, Brt, W8, W10, W11
H B: 58.52% ECl, ClH, UnH, W6, W9
H C: 30.34% SEu, Bch, ShH, HiH, Woo, Orn, Sol, Glw, Oak, Bed, CuH, BdH, NwH

S 21: 50.24%

H D: 25.66% Lin, W3. W14, W15, W16, W17
H E: 51.21% Brk, W2, W5, W7. W12, W13
H F: 72.28%, GrH, MpH, BdH, WrH, NRn, W1, W4

[krazen1211]

Districts 94, 95, and 99 form Senate District 5. If necessary I will add the 1 precinct to connect that touch point. District 99 is 80% Democratic while 94 and 95 are 60% Republican. Tossup Senate district with a Democratic (black) incumbent.

District 96, 97, 98 form Senate District 6. District 98 is a tossup while 96 and 97 are 55 and 60% Republican. Safe R Senate district.