US House Redistricting: Washington

[cinyc]

My friend who was pulling an all-nighter watched it periodically from 6 to 8 for me, and said she mostly saw big trucks.

I'm not sure why we're bothering to watch road traffic cameras over the pass when county employment data is readily available from the Census bureau:
http://lehdmap.did.census.gov/

Assuming I don't have this backwards, 16.3% of Kittitas County residents (on the other side of Snoqualamie Pass) work in King County, the most of any county other than Kittitas.  6.8% of people working in Kittitas County live in King County, behind Kittitas and Yakima counties.

Again, assiming I have this right, outside of the county, 789 of Kittitas county residents' primary job was in Seattle, 641 in Yakima, 270 in Bellevue and 153 in Spokane, among others.

[cinyc]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

[cinyc]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

Both are across a river from a larger town.

True.  But one is in another state.

[cinyc]

The point was not that people commute over Satus Pass but do not commute over Snoqualmie Pass. Commutes were never mentioned by anyone until you came along, and we have now clearly demonstrated that no one commutes over either pass.

The discussion is linking population centers within a congressional district via Snoqualmie Pass or via Satus Pass as I have yet to see anyone propose gutting up Kennewick and Richland yet.   Facts show people indeed commute over Snoqualmie Pass.  A small number, but a significant % for a smaller populated county.

Since it is Satus vs. Snoqualmie, let's compare.  

So how many commuters over Satus Pass?  I can link data and news articles talking about the Snoqualmie commute.

Again, you don't need to watch traffic cameras.  Census has the data.  Only 3.4% of Klickitat County residents worked in Yakima County in 2009.  Believe it or not, more actually worked in King County (5.9%).   No, I have no clue who they might be. 

[cinyc]

Presumably the 6% who work in King County but are residents of Klickitat County own second homes in Klickitat but claim residence/fill out their Census forms at those homes (but really live somewhere in King County, or maybe a few on Bainbridge Island or Snohomish or Pierce Counties). Probably true of the tiny proportion of Kittitas residents who claim to work in King County, too.

The proportion of Kittitas residents who work in King County isn't as tiny as you claim.  It was 16.2% of the county's workforce in 2009.  Admittedly, it's not comparable to the percentage of residents of Snohomish (44.2%), Pierce (33.4) or Kitsap (28.1%) who worked in King, but it is the most-frequent outside county of employment for Kittitas residents.

[cinyc]

Does anyone want to draw a map of New York or Georgia under this new standard of linking exurban and rural commuters with the places some of them work? Would be weird, isn't it?

Finding Kittitas commuters like righteous men in Sodom solely to make WA-8 more Republican--and let's be honest, that's all that is about--is, at best, a contestable standard.

You are grossly misstating the issue.  By my math, Washington State west of the Cascades is about a quarter of a district short of having the population for 8 districts.  The question is where that quarter of a district should come from.  Which areas have the most ties to those on the other side of the mountains is relevant when figuring which areas to append to a district that will be dominated by folks from the other side of the mountains.

[cinyc]

I have no real dog in this fight.  My only position is that the numbers are what they are and there's no need to count cars when Census can give you the commuting pattern data.  Whether 16% commuting to King in 2009 (versus 8% in 2000) is enough to change the commission's mind on how to draw a district - I don't have a clue.  I just know that it is what it is.

[cinyc]

I'm kind of confused by something.  I just compiled Seattle precinct registered voter counts, versus 18+ Census population.  Most of it makes sense, but several wealthy neighborhoods have 100%+ registration rates.  One precinct has 426 people over eighteen and 506 registered voters.  Another supposedly had 98.8% of its 18+ voters cast a ballot in 2010, which suggests to me that it's not all people who've moved but not been marked inactive.  What's going on with that?  Is there some reason the Census would the 18+ count would underestimate (not overestimate) eligible voters?

Where/how do eligible overseas voters vote in Washington State?