Redistricting every state

[Sol]

In a sort of early  New Year's resolution, inspired by a similar endeavor by JerryArkansas a while back, I've decided to try redistricting all the states that actually have more than one district fairly and reasonably, as a national commission might draw them. I'll move from east to west, and I'll try to take into account:
-UCCs
-County lines
-The VRA
-Erosity
-Connectivity
-Municipal

as much as possible. In addition, I'll weigh these against competitiveness and COI- I won't start out focusing of Competitiveness and COI, but given the choice between two alternatives, I'll choose the one that protects COI and competitiveness.

So, right away I ran into an issue for the 1st two states I did- the extent to which county boundaries should be focused on in New England. It's my understanding that in NE, the county isn't particularly important as a unit of administration or as COI in the same way it is in the Midwest or South- so the question becomes: Is it worth it to avoid county chops in New England? The answer I chose to run with was no, but if someone thinks otherwise, let me know and I'll consider it. This question also has implications for UCCs that are definitely relevant, particularly in NH.

So, here's Maine:

This map of Maine seems to satisfy my criteria. My main concern is Androscoggin County- I understand it fits, in many respects, in with the Quebecois-American Blue Dog matrix of Northern Maine. However, butting Auburn and Lewiston in with Portland seems to make a certain kind of sense- it seems to have better connections with the southern part of the state, and makes ME-2 marginally more competitive.


Now, New Hampshire. NH was hard because of the UCC question- the vast majority of the state's population lives in the Boston and Manchester-Nashua UCCs, and those 2 together are way too big for a CD, despite being something of a COI. So it leaves the redistricter with two options: either comply with county lines in the Southeast (as they are the only way to gage UCC boundaries) or disregard UCCs and counties, but comply well with COI. The question of UCCs in New England remains a crucial one. For now, I have something for the former, although I would prefer to do the latter.



Any recommendations- particularly those on the placement of Auburn/Lewiston and UCCs in New England?

[traininthedistance]

I think that I prefer the actual New Hampshire map to yours; splitting the rural north and west rather than keeping it in one district just kind of grates on my sensibilities somewhat.

You might also try looking at NECTAs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_city_and_town_area) for New England, which are basically metro-area equivalents calculated at the muni level.  It's possible that you can get a map that keeps the rural areas together and doesn't split NECTAs, which would be nice.

[muon2]

The Census Bureau defines New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs) based on towns much like it defines MSAs. It doesn't account for urbanized areas like UCCs do from MSAs, but it probably makes a good start.

[Sol]

I think that I prefer the actual New Hampshire map to yours; splitting the rural north and west rather than keeping it in one district just kind of grates on my sensibilities somewhat.

You might also try looking at NECTAs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_city_and_town_area) for New England, which are basically metro-area equivalents calculated at the muni level.  It's possible that you can get a map that keeps the rural areas together and doesn't split NECTAs, which would be nice.

Yeah, it wasn't my preference either- NECTAs sound preferable, and I'll do a revised map based on them.

[muon2]

Another issue is that with so many towns, one can get population equality without any splits. In principle, one would have to defend a plan against the possibility that another plan could be more equal without splitting NECTAs or making erosity increase.

For example these maps both have exact population equality, though NECTAs were not used in either case:

[Sol]

How about this? NH-2 is basically the Boston NECTA+the Manchester NECTA+some towns that aren't in any NECTA to boost population

[Flake]

My take on Maine.

[Flake]

New Hampshire

[ElectionsGuy]

I did a good one on Massachusetts a while ago:



Not sure whether this fits the criteria very well, but here's the info. For race, it is VAP (Voter Age Percentage) and anything under 5% is not shown here.

1 (red): 66.8% Obama, 31.1% McCain. 78.8% White, 11.9% Hispanic, 5.4% Black.
2 (blue): 78.7% Obama, 20.0% McCain. 53.7% White, 17.7% Black, 15.7% Hispanic, 9.3% Asian.
3 (yellow): 59.6% Obama, 38.8% McCain. 79.0% White, 14.3% Hispanic
4 (green): 71.8% Obama, 26.5% McCain. 73.2% White, 10.2% Asian, 7.6% Hispanic, 5.9% Black.
5 (orange): 58.2% Obama, 39.6% McCain. 83.9% White, 7.9% Hispanic.
6 (purple): 56.7% Obama, 41.6% McCain. 83.6% White, 7.5% Asian.
7 (lime green): 57.9% Obama, 40.5% McCain. 83.7% White, 5.6% Asian.
8 (brown): 53.6% Obama, 44.8% McCain. 89.9% White.
9 (sea green): 61.0% Obama, 37.2% McCain. 83.3% White, 5.8% Black, 5.0% Hispanic.

[Flake]

Vermont was the hardest one by far. With a lot of changes, here's my Vermont map.

[ElectionsGuy]

Vermont was the hardest one by far. With a lot of changes, here's my Vermont map.

I can't even imagine the difficulty you had to go through.

[Hatman 🍁]

Vermont was the hardest one by far. With a lot of changes, here's my Vermont map.

Dick move, bro.

[muon2]

I did a good one on Massachusetts a while ago:



Not sure whether this fits the criteria very well, but here's the info. For race, it is VAP (Voter Age Percentage) and anything under 5% is not shown here.

1 (red): 66.8% Obama, 31.1% McCain. 78.8% White, 11.9% Hispanic, 5.4% Black.
2 (blue): 78.7% Obama, 20.0% McCain. 53.7% White, 17.7% Black, 15.7% Hispanic, 9.3% Asian.
3 (yellow): 59.6% Obama, 38.8% McCain. 79.0% White, 14.3% Hispanic
4 (green): 71.8% Obama, 26.5% McCain. 73.2% White, 10.2% Asian, 7.6% Hispanic, 5.9% Black.
5 (orange): 58.2% Obama, 39.6% McCain. 83.9% White, 7.9% Hispanic.
6 (purple): 56.7% Obama, 41.6% McCain. 83.6% White, 7.5% Asian.
7 (lime green): 57.9% Obama, 40.5% McCain. 83.7% White, 5.6% Asian.
8 (brown): 53.6% Obama, 44.8% McCain. 89.9% White.
9 (sea green): 61.0% Obama, 37.2% McCain. 83.3% White, 5.8% Black, 5.0% Hispanic.

It looks like you chopped Boston. Technically that isn't necessary, but creates tradeoffs as Brookline then goes into a different CD.

[Sol]

Massachusetts is a pain, so I'm skipping it for now and moving onto Connecticut. I actually think UCCs work well for CT (and I had them in mind when I did this) so I've made the decision to avoid NECTAs here.

[The Free North]

Massachusetts is a pain, so I'm skipping it for now and moving onto Connecticut. I actually think UCCs work well for CT (and I had them in mind when I did this) so I've made the decision to avoid NECTAs here.

As a CT resident, this looks very good. I think the main regions of the state have been connected perfectly. If possible, I would try to unite lower fairfield to the west of Trumbull, just for aesthetics sake.

[Flake]

Massachusetts

[Flake]

I tried making a super white Rhode Island 1 and a not so white Rhode Island 2.

Here are the results:



Rhode Island 1: 92% white, 3% hispanic, 2% asian, 1% black, 2% other
Rhode Island 2: 61% white, 22% hispanic, 8% black, 4% asian, 5% other

[Flake]

Here's my gerrymandered 2008 Massachusetts, with McCain winning this district by ~30 votes.

[ElectionsGuy]

Here's my gerrymandered 2008 Massachusetts, with McCain winning this district by ~30 votes.

Oh Lord.

[Flake]

I like doing these Northeastern Republican Gerrymanders!

Obama vs. McCain

Obama: 187,293
McCain: 187,301



So McCain wins by eight votes and this was the best option, the two closest had Obama winning by two votes each time.

[minionofmidas]

Here's my gerrymandered 2008 Massachusetts, with McCain winning this district by ~30 votes.

You got the wrong population west of the district, enabling to take the R-heavy bridge, and still you're nowhere near the amount of Republicans that can be stuffed in the district even with all district equal.


It's possible that this can be improved on... but not by many votes.

[Sol]

[traininthedistance]

How about this? NH-2 is basically the Boston NECTA+the Manchester NECTA+some towns that aren't in any NECTA to boost population

 

Looks good to my eyes!

[Sol]

How about this? NH-2 is basically the Boston NECTA+the Manchester NECTA+some towns that aren't in any NECTA to boost population

 

Looks good to my eyes!

Yay!

Oh, BTW, I'd like to use this space to complement your work on some other states- I've stopped redistricting Georgia since you came out with that lovely one a while back.

[Sol]

Here's Maryland:



DC Area:


Baltimore:


I'm a little unsure about the Baltimore area.