Category Archives: Boundary mathematics

Can single-member districts ever be truly fair?

Posted on January 17, 2015 by NoahKennedy

Recently I’ve been challenged in a very forceful but thoughtful way by a WordPress user who uses the handle realrepresentation. This reader advocates Proportional Representation as the system the United States should use to select its delegates to the House of Representatives. I lived in Germany … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics, minority rights, Pennsylvania, Politics of Redistricting, Proportional Representation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Brian Olson's approach to Hands-Off Redistricting

Posted on November 9, 2013 by NoahKennedy

I ended my last post with a reference to Brian Olson and the work he is doing to test and implement Hands-Off Redistricting algorithms of various kinds, and the success he seems to be having with his most recent work. … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics, Brian Olson, california, north carolina, OPRA | 2 Comments

Hands-Off Redistricting and Minority Voices

Posted on November 2, 2013 by NoahKennedy

One of the most common responses I get to the idea of Hands-Off Redistricting is that – though people are uniformly disgusted with gerrymandering – they are concerned that automated approaches might lead to their own set of unintentional injustices. … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics, Brian Olson, Gay rights, minority rights, OPRA, Politics of Redistricting, Texas | 3 Comments

A GIS analysis of Gerrymandering compared to OPRA

Posted on October 26, 2013 by NoahKennedy

I ran across a very interesting blog post by a creative GIS specialist named Blake Harvey, on his Geo Ideas blog. In it, he proposed a formula for measuring gerrymandering, and he proposed this ranking for states based on his … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics, north carolina, Politics of Redistricting | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Hands-Off Redistricting Strategies

Posted on January 30, 2013 by NoahKennedy

“Hands-Off” has a “Strategy”? Having argued the case that Congressional districts should be drawn in a hands-off way, it may seem contradictory to write about “strategies” for redistricting.  But the strategies I am thinking about today don’t have to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Is OPRA a Deterministic or Probabilistic Problem?

Posted on January 27, 2013 by NoahKennedy

An almost universal pair of comments I get from readers so far has been a combination of two observations: 1. Wow, there is so much (social-political and mathematical) complexity to Hands-Off Redistricting! 2. Isn’t there a way to have a computer figure … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary mathematics, Politics of Redistricting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment