US House Redistricting: Georgia

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Would your GA-02 be considered Racial Gerrymandering?

I don't see how. It's more compact than most black-majority districts, and for the most part respects county boundaries. I don't see how they could uphold something like NC-12 and toss out this version of GA-2.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

A slight alteration to Bacon King's plan gets the district up to 56.9% McCain.

What's the population and Republican voting percentage of the portion of Lowndes County you included?  Kingston would probably prefer a district with a higher probability of remaing safe in 10 years in the event that Savannah takes off economically and attracts more out-of-state migrants, so I was wondering whether the rural counties further inland would be a better fit (assuming the Republicans can make up the difference elsewhere to take down Barrow).

Thanks, btw; I just got into amateur redistricting (I still have a lot more to learn, not to mention precint-level data to acquire), and your maps have been very helpful.

In my plan, the Lowndes County portion has a population of 56,923 and voted 73.4% for McCain.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

On the senate map, 2 black Democrats cannibalized this guy in the Columbus/Albany area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hooks

Apparently he's the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as co-chair of the joint Senate-House Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Given the limitations of Dave's redistricting app, what percentage of deviation between the populations of congressional districts is considered reasonable on this forum?  For instance, my current Georgia effort has deviations ranging from a 2,782 surplus in 4th District to a 2,703 deficit in the 13th District.

I try to keep the deviations below 200. That can be quite difficult depending on the area, but it's usually possible. Personally, I wouldn't accept a deviation above 500 unless you're doing a state like Arkansas or West Virginia where county splits are prohibited.