While I understand the purpose and, to some extent, methods of gerrymandering, I actually have problems with the opposite: what constitutes a fair redistricting? Math Professor Moon Duchin of Tufts University has been working on that problem, and her team has taken the approach, from what I can gather, of generating hundreds, thousands, even millions of maps, and then evaluating them against a set of criteria. Those criteria?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opposite of gerrymandering isn\u2019t proportional representation; the opposite of gerrymandering is not gerrymandering,\u201d Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at the University of Wisconsin and a co-author of the 2019 mathematicians\u2019 brief to the Supreme Court, wrote<\/a> in an essay in Slate that Duchin likes to quote.<\/p>\n
And although Duchin advocates computing power as a potentially game-changing tool, she doesn\u2019t propose taking humans out of the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all the different states, as we approach redistricting now and into the future, we need to keep on having these debates about what principles we want embodied in our maps,\u201d she said. \u201cDifferent states will come to different ideas about local fairness, about what fairness looks like there. I hope that they\u2019ll use techniques like this to help them get closer to those ideals.\u201d [WaPo<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In other words, the professor has punted on that question.<\/p>\n
And that’s OK. The question seems to be hard, and rather than decreeing an answer and then fighting about it, Professor Duchin presents a collection of possible answers and stands back.<\/p>\n
Duchin and her team have a website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While I understand the purpose and, to some extent, methods of gerrymandering, I actually have problems with the opposite: what constitutes a fair redistricting? Math Professor Moon Duchin of Tufts University has been working on that problem, and her team has taken the approach, from what I can gather, of \u2026 Continue reading