What is another way to determine voting districts? By county lines? Straight lines?
Inquiring minds…
I’ve always thought that districts should be as rectangular as possible. Start with a vertical line as far west as possible — then push that line to the east until you enclose the correct number of voters. Then make an other vertical line and start moving that one east. Or do horizontal lines. If a vertical slice seems to have too many people, dice it up with one or more horizontal lines. I see no reason why a city shouldn’t be cut through once or even twice. Don’t think about outcomes. Don’t think about people. Just think population numbers, and try to enclose 500,000 people (or whatever) in a box.
There are many ways, but if it is based on race or party registration then it is done to sway the election results.
I’d like to see voting districts created by minimizing total district boundary length within a state. Won’t ever happen, though.
I think county boundaries and natural geographical things like rivers, lakes, and creeks. Any sort of rectangular areas should be "squarish", not a rectangle 300 miles long by 10 miles long.
How about simple, contiguous population count, with the constraining factor of the overall circumference of the shape or form as related to a center of that shape or form?
Equal representation based on population and distance from any "center." Could be done by basic math, and without concern for race and other "factors."