[justlurking]

We need a plausible mathematical geometric objective algorithm, or at least limits to tortuousness.

I've been thinking the same thing. Just a few thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Draw districts so that the sum of the length of all boundaries is minimized.
2. Follow political boundaries as much as practical, while still accomplishing #1. County boundaries take precedence, followed by municipal boundaries.
3. Ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual preference, political party affiliation, and even voter registration are NOT to be considered. Population is the only consideration.
4. For purposes of redistricting, US citizens are the only ones to be counted. Everyone else is a guest, and won't be voting anyway.

Unfortunately, it will probably require a Constitutional amendment to enforce this uniformly in every state. To sweeten the pot, I'll toss out a few more suggestions. Comments and counter-points welcome:

• A state's electoral votes will be allocated per the "Maine model". The candidate achieving a plurality of votes in each Congressional district shall receive one electoral vote from that district. The candidate achieving a plurality of votes in the entire state shall receive two electoral votes.

• A voting machine standard will be established. I'll suggest something like The Open Voting Consortium. It's an electronic voting system using commodity hardware, but it prints a paper ballot. You can see exactly the choices that you made. A bar-code is also printed on the page, and can easily be scanned by a machine to count the votes. If a recount is necessary, the paper ballots are available. And if you doubt the bar-code, a scanner is provided for you at the polling location to double-check your vote(s).

• Standardize voter registration, to confirm citizenship and eliminate ineligible voters. Implement anti-fraud measures to detect things like hundreds of voters at the same address.

• Standardize voter ID at the polls: photo ID required.

• Ban absentee and mail voting except for demonstrated need (i.e. active-duty military, infirm/hospitalized, and pre-planned travel). Standardize early voting procedures to reduce the need for absentee voting.

• Standardize voting procedures and security. Define chain-of-custody requirements for ballots that are similar to those for evidence in a criminal trial (no more "finding" ballots in the trunk of a car).

OK, this became a lot longer than I planned. It's more of a "stream of thoughts" than a thought-out strategy. What did I miss?

[Sergio]

I like your ideas. Here are a few to piggy back on what you started.

1. No counting of votes, or even opening of sealed ballot boxes until 24 hours after the polls close.

2. Once vote counting begins, no additional votes are allowed into the count until an investigation is done as to why the votes were not turned in on time.

3. The “Found” ballot box remains sealed until the “chain of evidence” is established. If an honest mistake was made the person in charge of delivering the ballot box is barred from ever working in any part of the elections process. If criminal intent is discovered, the person in charge of delivering the ballot box is barred from ever working in any part of the elections process, and spends 10 years in the federal prison system.

4. In either case, all “found” votes are investigated for validity and legality, and only those votes that are valid and legal will be allowed to count towards the vote tally.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Here’s my added thoughts on district boundaries. Some of these are alternatives:

“Type One” district boundary segments: District boundaries may include as their border any portion of a county boundary, a municipal boundary, a navigable waterway, an interstate highway (possibly other major highways).

“Type Two” district boundary segments are those other than Type One, and must be formed of straight lines, and be free from “tortuousness.” This means: No angles more acute than 90 degrees (including those formed with Type One boundaries). No “bays” or “peninsulas” may be formed.

No district may have a boundary/area ratio greater than a rectangle with a 2:1 side length ratio.

No district may have a boundary/area ratio greater than double that of any other district in the state.

All districts shall be formed of state boundaries, have no interior acute angles, and shall share no more than one single straight boundary with any other district (would look like a honeycomb, though long cells would be possible).

Districts must be formed only of county lines, except as necessary to divide counties with a population greater than that of a district, or to share at most one county to equalize adjacent districts. Lines dividing counties shall be a single straight line segment perpendicular to a line connecting the geographic centers of the two districts. No district may include more than one divided county portion. No state shall have more divided counties than districts. No county shall be shared by more than two districts. Counties shall be assigned to districts to minimize (or be below a threshold) of tortuousness.

One measure of tortuousness could be the ratio of the line connecting the two farthest corners of the district, to the line spanning the narrowest “waist” of the district.