Is this the ugliest precinct map you've ever seen?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.dfl4cd.org/finder/zips/precincts/maps/BlueEarth/MANKATO%20P-09.pdf

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The best part is the empty rectangle to the northeast.

[Alcon]

Bad, but not the worst I've seen.  But I've seen a LOT.

[Gabu]

wtf?

At least make the precinct continguous, for God's sake.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The best part is the empty rectangle to the northeast.

Yeah, I really have no clue if anyone lives there, but of course I have no clue where it really is.

The worst thing about this precinct is that the southern portion of it is much closer to other polling places. I have no clue what they were thinking when they drew this one (and most of the other ones make sense)

[Gabu]

Bad, but not the worst I've seen.  But I've seen a LOT.

Do tell.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Just to put things into perspective:

the voting place is located in that place with all the roads on the left, which most people in the precinct live of course. All that empty space to the west of Hwy 22 between that area and the road contains TWO voting places, one for Mankato Township, the other for another P-08, in fact the quickest way to get to the polling place for this precinct takes you PAST P-08's polling place.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Upon inspection of the city map that empty square is a portion off to the side of a county road that is completely surrounded by the township. Why it isn't part of the township is anyone's guess.

[Alcon]

Bad, but not the worst I've seen.  But I've seen a LOT.

Do tell.

I don't have any maps, but lots of places do this kind of thing - fill out areas on the edge of cities all with the same precinct, even if they aren't connected. 

That may be among the ten worst, though.

[Smash255]

what is a bit odder is this.  doesn't match the census bureau map...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

ah, now I see why that square up in the corner is included. That's a subdivision.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Also according to the MN SoS site both Itasca Drive and the south side of Fair St are in P-07, which matches the map on that site.

[muon2]

The precinct makes good sense when viewed on the Census map. First, Mankato maintains separate precincts from the township. Second, MN permits annexations that are discontiguous, and annexations of roads only (neither of which are permitted in IL). The omission of the township area makes the precinct look strange, but when the whole area is viewed there is little choice for the precinct.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I see that Richmond, CA is discontinous, so CA allows that, too.

[minionofmidas]

It does look hilarious. How many people are there in that southern inhabited portion - could the precinct be split in two?

[MODU]

Gotta love the games politicians play.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

How many people are there in that southern inhabited portion

Not a lot but not an insignificant number. That's a trailer park.

could the precinct be split in two?

Only if the southern part is made a vote by mail precinct like the two really sparsley populated ones on the outskirts of town. You could include it in P-08 though.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

wtf?

At least make the precinct continguous, for God's sake.

I thought they legally had to be--this is outrageous.  Does anybody know which party was in control when that happened?

[Speed of Sound]

Well, if we're gonna do that now, Im going to request Sacremento be put in my district immediately.

[Alcon]

I thought they legally had to be--this is outrageous.  Does anybody know which party was in control when that happened?

There's really not much political reason to gerrymander precincts unless you're doing something funny with municipal elections.

E.g., some city might convert to a ward system instead of at-all elections, and if all of the current city councilpeople lived in the same neighbourhood, gerrymandering would have to occur.  I don't think that's what happened in Mankato, though, and I've never seen that happen.

[J. J.]

It really depends on what is there.  There are several non-contiguous townships in Delaware County PA.  The Ferndale Area School District in Cambria County, PA is made up of 5 totally non-contiguous municipalities.  They make sense to the people that live there.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

wtf?

At least make the precinct continguous, for God's sake.

I thought they legally had to be--this is outrageous.  Does anybody know which party was in control when that happened?

Congressional districts must be, but not precincts. Since the city of Mankato is not entirely continguous it'd be impossible to make all precincts continguous (one of the exclaves is included in that precinct.) Also precincts aren't drawn by the legislature, I'm also sure it'd be some non-partisan body like the Census bureau, some state agency or something appointed by the city, what it is I'm not sure. Mankato is a Democratic city but all the local elections are non-partisan.

That precinct is basically a combination of 3 separate areas that don't really have anything in common or are even close to each other, but probably got thrown together because they couldn't figure out where else to put them, the trailer park and rural areas in the south, the subdivision in that empty square to the northeast, and the neighborhood in the west where the polling place is and most of the people live.

I do wish they were seperate though, just to see how each one votes. The precinct as it is now voted 55% for Kerry, 60% for Klobuchar, 63% for Walz and 47% for Hatch (he narrowly won it)