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Gerrymandering Resource File
Problem:
The United States Constitution provides that the House of Representatives shall be composed of some
number (currently 435) of individuals who are elected from each state in proportion to the state’s population
relative to that of the country as a whole. While this provides a way of determining how many
representatives each state will have, it says nothing about how the district represented by a particular
representative shall be determined geographically. This oversight has led to egregious (at least some
people think so, usually not the incumbent) district shapes that look “unnatural” by some standards.
Hence the following question: Suppose you were given the opportunity to draw congressional districts for a
state. How would you do so as a purely “baseline” exercise to create the “simplest” shapes for all the
districts in a state? The rules include only that each district in the state must contain the same population.
The definition of “simple” is up to you; but you need to make a convincing argument to voters in the state
that your solution is fair. As an application of your method, draw geographically simple congressional
districts for the state of New York.
National Level:

List of Member of the House by State (http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/olm_111.pdf)

Facts from the Office of the Clerk (http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/memberfaq.html)
1. The current size, 435 Members, of the House of Representatives, was established by Public
Law 62-5 on August 8, 1911 and took effect in 1913.
2. Under the Constitution, each state is entitled to at least one Representative, serving a two-year
term. Additional seats are apportioned on the basis of the state's population. Congress fixes the
size of the House of Representatives, and the procedure of apportioning the number among the
states. State legislatures pass laws determining the physical boundaries of congressional districts,
within certain constraints established by the Congress and Supreme Court (through its
reapportionment and redistricting rulings). Each state is apportioned its number of Representatives
by means of the Department of Commerce's decennial census. Further information on current
congressional districts may be found at the US Census Bureau's Congressional Affairs Office page
on Congressional District Profiles.

Article 1, Section 2 of the US Constitution
The Legislative Branch, House of Representatives
(http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section2 )
"The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year
by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
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No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five
years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when
elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which
may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be
determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to
service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting
of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in
such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed
one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative; and
until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to
chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one,
Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one,
Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the executive authority
thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall
have the sole power of impeachment."

State Populations (http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/projectionsagesex.html)

Fixed number of representatives/district size will rise
(http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_conApport.html)
Key Facts:
1. The Census 2000 apportionment population was 281,424,177
2. Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 memberships or seats in the U.S. House of
Representatives among the 50 states.
3. The number of representatives or seats in the U.S. House of Representatives has remained
constant at 435 since 1911, except…
4. The average size of a congressional district based on the Census 2000 apportionment
population will be 646,952
5. Gains/losses of seats among the states is also mentioned and analyzed

Maps of current state districts (http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html#list)
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
Quick Facts: Demographic/Economic data by city, county and state
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/

US Department of Agriculture: Livestock and crops on state and county level
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Full_Report/Census_by_State/index.asp
State Level (Kansas):

Kansas District populations by race
(http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Redistrct/documents/33832.pdf )

School District Data: Each School district and stats (race, poverty, etc. from 1992-2008)
http://www3.ksde.org/k12/usd1.html

Kansas Economic Data by County: Employment, Income, Industry, Welfare, ect.
http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/esum/

Kansas State Map Collect (other states available): (http://geology.com/state-map/kansas.shtml)

State District Maps (http://maps.kansasgis.org/demograph/ims/myelect.cfm)
Local Level (Wichita):

City District Maps--individual (http://www.wichita.gov/Government/CityCouncil/DAB.htm)

City District Map-together (http://www.wichita.gov/NR/rdonlyres/D55170C0-FF31-4310-826A26AEA65F398C/0/councildistricts.pdf
 Home Owners Associations in Wichita
http://www.wichita.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FF62ADF9-3D8D-405E-83D21579E95C3A7A/0/HOA_citylimit.pdf
 Neighborhood Associations in Wichita
http://www.wichita.gov/NR/rdonlyres/52821A49-6F62-4134-8205-78DC51AA8E9C/0/NAMap.pdf
 Wichita Data by zip code (population, home sells, race, etc.):
http://www.city-data.com/city/Wichita-Kansas.html
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
Average home listing price by neighborhood in Wichita
http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Kansas/Wichita-heat_map/

Median house value by neighborhood (definition of neighborhood different from above site)
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ks/wichita/

GIS Software for the city of Wichita
http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/IT/GIS

Finding Census Tract Data on the Internet (smallest statistical breakdown of data—approximately
one city block—data on population, race, economic, social, etc )
http://library.csun.edu/mfinley/census90.html

According Charter Ordinance No 173 for the city of Wichita, these are the guidelines each district
must meet:
http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=14166&sid=16
CHARTER ORDINANCE NO. 173 (Exert)
"SECTION 8. Revision of Boundary Lines. Commencing in July of 1990, in July of 1992, in
July of 2002, and in July of every tenth year thereafter, the Council shall appoint a commission
of the electors of the City who shall examine the plan of districts and shall, by September 30 of
each such year, recommend to the Council such revisions in the boundary lines of the districts so
as to meet the requirements stated below in Section 9. On or prior to December 31 of each such
year, the Council by ordinary ordinance shall re-establish the district boundaries as
recommended by the commission of electors or shall reject, in whole or in part the
recommendations of the commission of electors and reestablish the boundaries as it sees fit so as
to meet the requirements stated below in Section 9. The Council shall certify the boundaries so
re-established to the Election Commissioner of Sedgwick County. The commission appointed to
recommend revisions to district lines shall have at least one elector from each district.
Any territory hereafter annexed to or consolidated with the City of Wichita, Kansas, shall at the
time of such annexation or consolidation be added to an adjacent district or districts by an
ordinary ordinance of the Council; provided that if any territory annexed or consolidated prior to
June 1 of the year preceding a City election shall contain qualified voters sufficient in number to
upset the approximate equality of the established districts by a deviation of ten percent (10%) or
more, the Council shall provide for redistricting the City in accord with the procedures described
in this section.
In the event that the revision of district boundaries shall result in an incumbent Council member
residing outside that member's district, such Council member shall continue to be qualified to
serve until the completion of the term for which elected. Further, if a Council member moves out
of the district from which elected within four (4) months of the end of the members term, such
member shall continue to be qualified to complete the term for which elected."
SECTION 2. Section 9 of Charter Ordinance No. 112 is hereby amended to read as follows:
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"SECTION 9. Requirements for Re-establishing District Boundary Lines. The boundary lines for
the six (6) Council districts shall be re-established by the commission of electors and Council so
as to:
1. Contain within each district a population which to the greatest extent feasible is equal to onesixth ( 1/6) of the total population of the City, but which under no circumstances shall be greater
or less than one-sixth ( 1/6) of the total population of the City by more than five percent (5%),
based on the U.S. decennial census or upon the most current population data then available.
2. Maintain a reasonably compact area in each district and avoid any noncontiguous zones or any
unusually exaggerated extension of district lines.
3. Follow election precinct lines as established by the Sedgwick County Election Commissioner
and be described in terms of the wards and precincts contained in each district.
4. Avoid use of number of registered voters by party or other partisan data.
5. Maintain, as much as possible, the integrity of broadly cohesive areas of interest."
 Sedgwick County precinct lines
http://gis.sedgwick.gov/pdfmaps/election/ElectMain02.asp
 Naming precincts
http://www.sedgwickcounty.org/elections/Demographics/Reference%20Guide.pdf
 Precinct Data (gender/age/party-- only registered voters?)
http://www.sedgwickcounty.org/elections/voter_demographics.asp
Mathematical Approaches:
1. Shortest Split Line Algorithm
http://rangevoting.org/SplitLR.html
2. Geometric Restrictions (Convexity and Stoutness)—this guy is film producernot valuable??
http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/redistricting-reform.html
3. Shortest distance to geographical center of the district—looks as though you can join a "group" and have
access to his code
http://bolson.org/dist/
4. Proportional Representation—another way to create a governing body without using districts
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/democracy/abcs.html

Find the book Spatial Analysis and GIS by Stewart Fotheringham and Peter Rogerson
Ch 11 on optimization modeling in political redistricting
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
Journal of Statistical Software BARD: Better Automated Redistricting by Micah Altman and
Michael P. McDonald
http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/BARD/vignettes/bardJSS.pdf
An article describing the BARD software which creates districts for you and will produce reports
comparing various possible districts.

Dave's Redistricting Application: http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting/launchapp.html
Comments on the applications: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/27/735913/-FreeRedistricting-Tool-Now-for-12-States