Signatures filed to invalidate Maryland Congressional redistricting

[traininthedistance]

"Fair" in Maryland is 6-2, both by geography and as a reflection of the state's partisan lean:



1: Harford is the logical partner for an Eastern Shore district, none of this crossing the Bay Bridge funny business.
2: Entirely BaltCo.  You could swap a bunch of land with 7 if getting a racial pack was more important than keeping jurisdictions whole, since 7 is over 50% black already, I see no reason to.
3: HoCo-based.  Most of the rest comes from Montgomery, which is way too big for one district.
4: Entirely Prince George's; 63% black.
5: Rural Southern Maryland is far too small for its own district, so it takes the less-developed portions of PG and most of Anne Arundel, which are the best fits.
6: Western Maryland and some other rural bits.  I particularly like the portion of Montgomery it takes, which is mostly protected farms walled off from the urban areas by parkland.  It's a sensible chop.
7: All of Baltimore City, and some Anne Arundel for population equality and to let 2 stay entirely within Baltimore County. 53.4% black.  The Anne Arundel portion of this district is literally the only part of the state that has any reason to be upset at all with this map.  But you can't please everybody.
8: MontCo.

Theoretically 2, 3, and 5 could be in play if there was a massive wave, or personal scandals.

[traininthedistance]

I think this map could really do without the three-way chop of Anne Arundel. Is there any way to make that possible without really screwing up the rest of the map?

I just tried seeing if swapping land between 3, 4, and 5 could fix things- give 3's portion of AA to 5, have 3 dip into Prince George's, have 4 fill out more of PG but stay entirely within the county.

It didn't work- 5 is overpopulated.  Some county has to be tri-chopped, or 4 has to leave PG, or you break up Howard, or something.  I'm pretty sure Anne Arundel has a far less cohesive identity than most other counties, since part of it is Baltimore suburbs and part of it is Southern MD, and part of it is Annapolis and part is BWI and... you get the idea.  That chop has to go somewhere, and AA is the least bad option IMO.