Redistrict NJ

[Brittain33]

Great proposal here. It's a Democratic gerrymander in the way that southern Michigan in 2002 was a Republican gerrymander: creating compact districts with reasonable borders, while breaking up other, alternative regions, will unduly favor the Democrats.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=A521ABB436BB3CC73A8239656F0EDC2C?diaryId=4477

[Brittain33]

Reposted with population numbers at Daily Kos where I monopolized the comments.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/23/161855/807/81/700626

[Brittain33]

Seems that 12 districts are much easier to draw than 13.

The current map is needlessly complicated. It reflects compromises made in 1992 for the loss of one seat and the VRA-ization of the Hudson seat and in 2002 to protect Holt and Ferguson. I am curious if the counties in central and southern Jersey were deliberately carved up to weaken the power of county parties to decide the elections, as happens frequently in legislative races. There is just no good reason for 3, 4, 12, and 7 to be so horizontal and for there not to be a Delaware Valley seat based in Trenton and Burlington County.

[Brittain33]

Seems that 12 districts are much easier to draw than 13.

The current map is needlessly complicated. 

Yes... but I've tried my hand at redistricting the state with 13 seats, and it's not as if an all-round beautiful map were obtainable.

Where does it go wrong?

[Brittain33]

Just for fun, in the 1970s, N.J. had 15 districts, including

* a district that was everything in Essex County minus Newark and East Orange;
* two districts that were completely or largely in Bergen County, split north-south: the western one had Teaneck, Hackensack, and Paramus, while the eastern one followed the Hudson down to North Bergen and Union City
* a district that was all Union County, minus Hillside and Linden;
* a district that was almost exactly Passaic County (West Patterson and Little Falls went to the Essex district, Garfield and Wilmington came in from Bergen County)
* a district based in Trenton and Burlington County that, instead of jumping east, bolted northeast to include East Brunswick and Old Bridge
* a Monmouth County district (this was dismembered in 1992, leading to Pallone's current spaghetti)

[Brittain33]

New Democratic 12-seat gerrymander up at swingstateproject. It creates a 10-2 delegation by Obama votes, which means that it reshapes LoBiondo's district without mapping him out of it, etc.

[Brittain33]

Connecting Elizabeth with Hudson County across Newark Bay is still cheating. There's no land route between the two without passing through Newark (or Staten Island).

Yes, the redistricting commission has been fine with it in the past. I'm not.

How about these?

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=11
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=VA&district=3

[Brittain33]

FL-11 has a bridge connecting it. There's no bridge between Bayonne and Elizabeth, not even a ferry, just water. Not that FL-11 is exactly a district I approve of, but it's not quite the same principle.

Ok.

On that note, I love that Tampa is apparently connected to the rest of the district if you are traveling southbound, but not for returning via the same road.