Look What He's Done to US!!!

[jimrtex]

The following are possible district maps for a US Senate
elected from 100 districts that could cross state lines.

The General Rules (in order of priority):

(1) Roughly equal population (about 2.9 million).
(2) Only one district may span the boundary between any
pair of adjoining states.
(3) States entitled to less than one senator should be
kept whole in a single district.
(4) Relatively few states should be grouped together to form senatorial districts.
(5) States entitled to more than one senator should have as many districts totally contained within their boundaries, with one, or at most two partial districts.
(6) Counties should not be split between districts.

[WMS]

Should be interesting.

[Hatman 🍁]

The following are possible district maps for a US Senate
elected from 100 districts that could cross state lines.

The General Rules (in order of priority):

(1) Roughly equal population (about 2.9 million).
(2) Only one district may span the boundary between any
pair of adjoining states.
(3) States entitled to less than one senator should be
kept whole in a single district.
(4) Relatively few states should be grouped together to form senatorial districts.
(5) States entitled to more than one senator should have as many districts totally contained within their boundaries, with one, or at most two partial districts.
(6) Counties should not be split between districts.

What about Los Angeles county?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The following are possible district maps for a US Senate
elected from 100 districts that could cross state lines.

The General Rules (in order of priority):

(1) Roughly equal population (about 2.9 million).
(2) Only one district may span the boundary between any
pair of adjoining states.
(3) States entitled to less than one senator should be
kept whole in a single district.
(4) Relatively few states should be grouped together to form senatorial districts.
(5) States entitled to more than one senator should have as many districts totally contained within their boundaries, with one, or at most two partial districts.
(6) Counties should not be split between districts.

6 is a problem because of Los Angeles and Cook counties.
As for 1, You'd definitely have to vary the populations to get 3 and 5 to work.

[jimrtex]

The 6 New England states are entitled to 5 senators.  This map violates rules 4,5, and 6, but is probably unavoidable given the challenging geography, including 4 states with insufficient population and limited bordering states.  ME, NH, VT, and RI are kept whole.  CT has one district, plus part of another.  MA though entitled to 2.217 districts has only one entirely in the state, and parts of three others.  Essex and Nortfolk counties are split.

Feel Free to predict the candidates

District 1 (0.972 of average population) Maine-New Hampshire-Massachusetts(Cape Ann) Vermont is too populous to be included with Maine (0.450) and New Hampshire (0.444) so a sliver of Massachusetts (0.084) is included.  Again, the choices involve splitting Essex or Middlesex counties (each of which has more people than Vermont).  The area included is mainly along the coast, including Gloucester, but not Salem and Marblehead, and excluding Lawrence.

District 2 (0.999) Massachusetts(West)-Connecticut(East)-Vermont The majority of the population (0.551) is in Massachusetts, with the Connecticut portion (0.235) having slightly more than the Vermont (0.213).  A larger part of Massachusetts could have been included, eliminated the Connecticut part, but this would have required splitting another county and pushed the district into the Boston suburbs.

District 3 (0.965) Connecticut(West)Includes all the largest cities Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury, as well as the New York commuter suburbs.

District 4 (0.977) Massachusetts(South)-Rhode Island A small portion of nothern Norfolk County is trimmed off, primarily to replace the population moved from Essex County into District 1.  The Massachusetts portion (0.606) outweighs Rhode Island (0.371).  The eastern part of Connecticut could have been included, but this would have pushed District 2 into the Boston area.

District 5 (0.981) Massachusetts(North) Boston and the northern and western suburbs.



Edit: Correct population of Districts 4 and 5.

[jimrtex]

The following are possible district maps for a US Senate
elected from 100 districts that could cross state lines.

The General Rules (in order of priority):

(1) Roughly equal population (about 2.9 million).
(2) Only one district may span the boundary between any
pair of adjoining states.
(3) States entitled to less than one senator should be
kept whole in a single district.
(4) Relatively few states should be grouped together to form senatorial districts.
(5) States entitled to more than one senator should have as many districts totally contained within their boundaries, with one, or at most two partial districts.
(6) Counties should not be split between districts.

What about Los Angeles county?

Rule 6 has the lowest priority, which means that it can be broken if necessary to satisfy the other rules.  In practice, few counties will need to be split.  But rather than being considered a high priority constraint, is usually something that can be easily satisfied.

It does have enough importance in that I have pushed the limits of Rule 1 so that districts might have up to 5% population deviation from the ideal in order to avoid splitting counties.  Otherwise, I would prefer something closer to 1 or 2%.

In addition to the cases of very large counties like Cook and Los Angeles, there are cases of several large counties in an area that might not be conveniently combined (see Boston area in the New England map).

[jimrtex]

New York (6.612), Pennsylvania (4.260), and Delaware (0.282) are collectively entitled to 11.154 seantors, and have been given 11 districts.  New Jersey (2.976) is given its own 3 senators.

The concentration of large counties in the New York City area requires splitting of New York County (Manhattan) and accepting fairly large variation in population among the districts.

Pennsylvania has 3 whole districts, and a large portion of two others, rather than 4 whole district, but it does include large portions of both of two partial districts.

District 6 (0.967) New York(Long Island) Nassau and Suffolk counties are a bit on the low side, but the only alternative is to include part of Queens.

District 7 (1.010) New York(Brooklyn and Staten Island) Kings and Richmond counties make a close fit.

District 8 (1.050) New York(Queens and Manhattan South) The 4 counties in District 8 and 9 are entitled to 2.100 senators, which require a splitting of a county.  The size of these two districts could be brought closer to the ideal by detaching a portion of Queens into District 6.   New York and Bronx counties could be put together, but Queens and Westchester are not adjacent, and would be way over the ideal population.  Splitting the Bronx would result in one district linking Manhattan and Westchester through the Bronx.  Splitting Queens would be tricky since the part that borders New York and Bronx counties is in the northwestern area.  The boundary between District 8 and 9 in Manhattan was not determined.  District 8 should include the area east of Central Park and opposite Queens across the East River, with District 9 coming down along the west side of Central Park if necessary (it is possible that both sides of the park could be included in District 8.)

District 9 (1.050) New York(Bronx, Westchester, and Manhattan North) The Bronx was detached from Westchester County when it was annexed to New York City.

District 10 (0.995) New York(Upstate East)The Hudson Valley and onward to the Canadian Border.

District 11 (1.011) New York(Upstate Central) Rochester and Syracuse as well as the Finger Lakes and Binghampton.

District 12 (1.022) New York(Upstate West)-Pennsylvania(Northwest) Slightly more from the New York portion (0.528 to 0.496) mostly in the Buffalo area.

District 13 (1.028) Pennsylvania(Southwest) Pittsburgh and nearby coal/industrial areas.

District 14 (1.025) Pennsyvlania(Northeast) Includes Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley.

District 15 (0.986) Pennsylvania(Philadelphia) Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks counties, with almost a 50/50 city/suburb split.

District 16 (1.008) Pennsylvania(Southeast)-Delaware The Pennsylvania portion dominates (0.726 to 0.282), with about an even split between the southwestern Philadelphia suburbs and the areas further west, including Lancaster and York).

District 25 (0.965) New Jersey(Northeast) Area from Newark and Jersey City northward including more inner suburbs.  Size of county populations results in some imbalance.

District 26 (0.984) New Jersey(North) Outer New York suburbs, as well as some inner cities Elizabeth and Union, and Trenton.

District 27 (1.028) New Jersey(south) Philadelphia suburbs, Atlantic City and other coastal areas.

[nini2287]

Oh you have to switch district numbers 13 and 15 so the PA-13 debate can continue on!

[minionofmidas]

Why the odd NJ numbers, 25-27 rather than 17-19?

[muon2]

One unintended consequence of senatorial districts is the mismatch between the 6-year terms and the 10-year census. Senators whose terms do not expire in the year after the redistricting would find themselves potentially serving a term while out of a district.

In IL the 4-year state senatorial terms all come to an end in a year ending in a 2 to coincide with the new district map. The districts are then divided into term sequenes of 4-4-2, 4-2-4, and 2-4-4 year terms. If this system applied to the jimrtex Senate, then there would be terms of 6-4, 4-6, and 2-6-2 year terms.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

You could always change the Senate term to 5 years, or change the census to every 12.

[muon2]

You could always change the Senate term to 5 years, or change the census to every 12.

If you did either of those, how do you provide for staggered terms? Does it become like the House with all seats up for election at the same time?

[Erc]

So I'm in with the Bronx and Harlem...yay.

C'mon man, you can do a bit of gerrymandering!

Although I'll agree to it if my town can get its third of the Bronx back.

[Joe Republic]

Can I ask how you made those excellent maps?  Where did you find the source maps?

[muon2]

Another way to balance the population per Senator, but avoid having to formally redistrict every ten years would be to set up regions of states. Each region could be of approximately equal population with the same number of Senators. The result would have more of the feel of the current Senate, and less like the House, yet provide more equal representation.

For example:
General Rules
(1) All regions shall have roughly equal populations
(2) No state shall be split between two regions unless it shall be split into a whole number of regions, such that each region is wholly contained within the state.
(3) The District of Columbia shall count as a state for the puposes of forming a region

Specific Example Rules
(4) There shall be 17 regions (ideal pop 16.6 M)
(5) Each region shall elect six Senators, with two Senators elected every two years.

Example Result
Dist 1 (0.84) ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT
Dist 2 (1.15) NY
Dist 3 (0.91) NJ, DE, MD, DC
Dist 4 (0.85) PA, WV
Dist 5 (1.16) VA, NC, SC
Dist 6 (0.94) GA, AL, MS
Dist 7 (0.97) FL
Dist 8 (1.02) LA, AR, TN, KY
Dist 9 (1.05) OH, IN
Dist 10 (0.92) MI, WI
Dist 11 (1.09) IL, MO
Dist 12 (1.03) IA, MN, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK
Dist 13 (1.26) TX
Dist 14 (0.94) NM, AZ, NV, UT, CO
Dist 15 (0.84) WY, MT, ID, OR, WA, AK, HI
Dist 16 (0.88) N. CA
Dist 17 (1.16) S. CA

[South Park Republican]

Wow!  Talking about seriously transforiming the Federal Government into a truly unitary state.  But then again since it routinely oversteps its constitutional bounds anyways this would simply help move it from de facto status.

[Alcon]

I did the first five districts:

District One
Kerry 801,904 (52.3%)
Bush 711,152 (46.4%)
Other 19,829 (1.3%)

District Two
Kerry 792,878 (59.2%)
Bush 523,410 (39.1%)
Other 22,613 (1.7%)

District Three
Kerry 679,511 (54.1%)
Bush 555,074 (44.2%)
Other 21,250 (1.7%)

District Four
Kerry 761,181 (58.5%)
Bush 521,377 (40.1%)
Other 17,908 (1.4%)

District Five
Kerry 807,003 (65.7%)
Bush 404,866 (33.0%)
Other 16,313 (1.3%)

Township assumptions:

DISTRICT ONE: Amesbury, Boxford, Essex, Georgetown, Gloucester, Groveland, Hamilton, Haverhill, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rockport, Rowley, Salisbury, Topsfield, Wenham, and West Newbury.

DISTRICT FOUR: Remainder of Norfolk County.

DISTRICT FIVE: Remainder of Essex County, Brookline, Dedham, Dover, Needham, Wellesley, and Westwood.

[jimrtex]

Why the odd NJ numbers, 25-27 rather than 17-19?

I have already apportioned all the states, and was then going through creating districts down to North Carolina when I realized I had skipped New Jersey.  I thought about renumbering, but figured I would be more likely to mess up somewhere else.  So VA-MD-WV are 17-21 and NC are 22-24.

[jimrtex]

Can I ask how you made those excellent maps?  Where did you find the source maps?

I found a national county map on the census bureau site in PDF format (the large scale projection is what causes the eastern states to tilt upward to the east).  Anyhow, I can zoom in on the region of interest and then I do a screen capture.  I then spend too much time editing with MS-Paint (an artifact of the PDF file is that river meanders are digitized at a resolution higher than I'm displaying on my maps.  So they end up as black splotches unless I edit them.

The advantage of doing it this way is it helps when figuring out the cross-border districts, since everything is at a common scale and relative position.

There are a set up state level base maps on an Indiana State University site which I can't find right now, which are a lot faster for single states.  The census bureau also has PDF files of each state.

Edit: found URL.

State basemaps from ISU

[minionofmidas]

You could always change the Senate term to 5 years, or change the census to every 12.

If you did either of those, how do you provide for staggered terms? Does it become like the House with all seats up for election at the same time?

I would assume that that was what is intended.
Not that it matters - the point of this, very nice, project is to create districts and maps, not to reform American government or be an actual reform proposal.

[jimrtex]

Another way to balance the population per Senator, but avoid having to formally redistrict every ten years would be to set up regions of states. Each region could be of approximately equal population with the same number of Senators. The result would have more of the feel of the current Senate, and less like the House, yet provide more equal representation.

When (if ever) would the regions be modified?   If a state was shifted from one region to another, they would not have participated in the election of most of their senators.  Alternatively, you could adjust the number of senators per region (in the range of 4 to 8 ).  If a region were to gain a 9th senator, it would be split (the terms of continuing senators would be assigned between the new regions.  They would serve the old region during the remainder of their term, but would seek re-election in the new region).  If a region were to lose its 4th senator, it would merge with an adjacent region.   Again continuing senators could represent their old region; but would seek re-election in the new merged region.

One effect of my method is that population changes will force different state groupings.  For example, eventually New England will have less population than needed to support 5 senators, but much more than needed for 4 senators.  So one or more of the western states will be grouped with New York.  This would likely trigger drastic modification for the remaining districts.

This is not necessarily bad.  A similar system is used for the Texas House (using whole counties to form districts).  Every ten years, there are many representatives paired in a new district made up of parts of their old district; representatives in districts most of which they have never represented, and other districts that are open.  It serves as a sort of term limits.

[jimrtex]

Township assumptions:

DISTRICT ONE: Amesbury, Boxford, Essex, Georgetown, Gloucester, Groveland, Hamilton, Haverhill, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rockport, Rowley, Salisbury, Topsfield, Wenham, and West Newbury.

Correct.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Plus Norwood.   I had mistakenly used the population of Norfolk town instead of Norwood in my calculations.  Use of the correct town provides a bit better balance between the seats.  I have corrected the text on the New England message,

I assume you also got Suffolk County.

[Joe Republic]

Can I ask how you made those excellent maps?  Where did you find the source maps?

I found a national county map on the census bureau site in PDF format (the large scale projection is what causes the eastern states to tilt upward to the east).  Anyhow, I can zoom in on the region of interest and then I do a screen capture.  I then spend too much time editing with MS-Paint (an artifact of the PDF file is that river meanders are digitized at a resolution higher than I'm displaying on my maps.  So they end up as black splotches unless I edit them.

The advantage of doing it this way is it helps when figuring out the cross-border districts, since everything is at a common scale and relative position.

There are a set up state level base maps on an Indiana State University site which I can't find right now, which are a lot faster for single states.  The census bureau also has PDF files of each state.

I would STRONGLY recommend you use Adobe Photoshop instead of Paint.  You can do the same job a lot more quickly and easier, and you won't have the same resolution problems.

It's well worth the money, but I guess if you don't want to pay then that's not a problem, because you can find a free copy on Limewire or Kazaa.  Or, PM me and I might be able to hook you up too bad.

[jimrtex]

I would STRONGLY recommend you use Adobe Photoshop instead of Paint.  You can do the same job a lot more quickly and easier, and you won't have the same resolution problems.

Can it edit (color fill) a PDF file?

[Joe Republic]

I would STRONGLY recommend you use Adobe Photoshop instead of Paint.  You can do the same job a lot more quickly and easier, and you won't have the same resolution problems.

Can it edit (color fill) a PDF file?

Yeah, it opens pretty much any kind of image file.