This week we will learn about redistricting and gerrymandering. You may work in pairs to do this lab. Email me who the partners are if you plan to work together.
There is a general description of gerrymandering here.
Part 1
You will redistrict Alabama. Alabama has been in the news recently because it has twice redistricted so that the congressional districts violated the voting rights act. The courts demanded that Alabama redistrict so that there would be two majority black districts. This is your job!
The program for redistricting is at the districtr.org.
Here is how it works:
1. Go to the site
2. Scroll down to the map and click on the Alabama.
3.A map of that state will come up. The controls are in the upper right
To zoom in or out on the map, click the + or - to the upper left.
To move the map around click on the finger control - then you can drag the map.
To draw a district, click on the paint brush control and select the color of the district you want to drawe. I recommend clicking the box to lock the drawn districts, so
when you draw a different distrit, you do not overpaint one that is done already. If you want to change some areas, you may uncheck this box.
To erase, click the eraser control and click on the map sections to erase.
The magnifying glass control gives you information on each precinct as you scroll over it -- including population
4. When you color a district, the color will appear on the map and the population of the district will appear on the graph (in the population tab). The target population for each
district is given at the bottom of the graph. You should try to get each district within 0.25% or better of the target.
5. The percent of voters of different races or ethnicities can be found under the Evaluation tab. You should end up with two districts that are majority black
Suggestions: There is an adjustment for the brush in the controls. Remember to keep the "lock the already-drawn districts" box checked. " Click the "paint counties" box to begin with. This will let you get larger areas included in a district to begin with.
At some point you will need to unclick the "paint counties" box and work at the precinct level to get the population near the target. With the pen, when doing rural areas, use the given width. When doing cities with lots of small precincts, make the brush as small as possible. Use the zoom-in in the dense areas.
The control panel shows the unassigned population below the graph of district pops. If you are about finished and cannot find some unassigned precincts, click on the highlight unassigned, then you can have the map automatically zoom into the spots that are unassigned.
When you are close to done, you may find you need to erase from one district then add to a neighboring district to get the numbers to balance.
Remember, when you are all done woth this part, you need to click share and get the url for your map that is given to include in your paper. You should save it as well, so you can get back to your map.
Part 2
You will play this hexagon redistricting game. Go to this site and click and play the game. Play twice, one trying to make the best map for yellow and once trying to balance the result close to the actual ratio of yellow and purple units. Include screenshots of your finished maps in your writeup.
To find out how redistricting is done in your state, go to this Brennan Center report or this site. Include this in your diacussion.
Your discussion paper should include a couple pages with your screen shots and should include the url for your state redistricting map. You should discuss what you have learned from this exercise and the reading.