[EM] Convex districts: a simple mathematical solution to gerrymandering?

[Brian Olson]

"Convex" is too simplistic. The maps don't actually break down that way 
because the census measures population on millions of little "blocks" and 
you have to build up districts by ammassing those blocks.

It would be fair to try and describe a desireable border or shape in other 
ways though. I'm pushing for "minimize the average distance of each person 
to the center of their district." I have a solver and some results here:

http://bolson.org/dist/

Brian Olson
http://bolson.org/

On Fri, 1 Sep 2006, Steve Barney wrote:

> It seems to me that a requirement that districts have to be convex
> may make gerrymandering significantly more difficult. Is that a good
> idea? I suppose we would have to make allowance for non-convex
> natural borders, of course, but perhaps such a rule could be imposed
> to the extent it is possible. Is anybody aware of any political
> jursidiction that has adopted such a requirement?
>
> Steve Barney
> Oshkosh, WI
>
>
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