Today’s Links
Articles:
Washington Post – Can computer simulations help fix democracy?
CNN – Redistricting in Ohio
Kosuke Imai and Cory McCartan, Harvard University – “Sequential Monte Carlo for Sampling Balanced and Compact Redistricting Plans”
Groups Taking Action:
Princeton Gerrymandering Project , Moon Duchin & the Tufts University MGGG Lab, Dave’s Redistricting App, FairVote, League of Women Voters People Powered Fair Maps Project, Redistricting Data Hub’s list of State Advocacy Groups
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
As a listener to ADM, you know that redistricting voting districts happens every 10 years after a new census. That redistricting can be fairly done, or can be manipulated for partisan gain, called gerrymandering. But mathematicians and computer scientists now have tools to show to courts just how gerrymandered the districts actually are.
An article in the Washington Post this week has an “explainer” on how & why gerrymandering gets done, but also shows how scientists are using the “Monte Carlo Principle” to prove to courts that maps were gerrymandered. An unbiased computer draws thousands of map combinations then graphs the results. The graphs show where the actual real-world gerrymandered maps ranks vs. the computer-generated fair map combinations.
A Harvard research team of Kosuke Imai and Cory McCartan designed an algorithm used in Ohio’s fight for fair maps. Their tool was used to draw 5,000 maps and showed the Republican map wasn’t even close to fair, which was a factor in convincing the judge to throw out the proposal. Moon Duchin of Tufts University notes that generating larger samples of up to 100,000 comparison maps can give an even higher-level of certainty.
In many states, citizens groups are using lower-tech open source mapping tools provided by Princeton University, a platform called Dave’s Redistricting, and others to draw their own maps, to contrast to the partisan cheating occurring within their state’s legislatures. See the Post article and links to get involved in those groups at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.