Abstract
Since 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued 15 redistricting opinions. But a recent Supreme Court ruling puts the question of partisan gerrymandering firmly in the hands of states. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over issues of partisan gerrymandering. The court did, however, point to state remedies.
Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing lines of voting districts to favor or harm any person or group. This practice denies opportunity for full political participation and representation to the harmed party. Since 2004, when the U.S. Supreme Court case of Vieth v. Jubelierer was decided, opponents of gerrymandering have been searching for “workable standards” to measure and prove gerrymandering.
In any case, a number of common redistricting principles have evolved. Map drawers should use results of these criteria to inform decision makers and the public. Rules against gerrymandering are not codified, but some other traditional practices of redistricting are. Thus, this paper will outline varying measures for compactness, and rules against splitting political units. This paper will further discuss proposed standards concerning gerrymandering, using new mathematical methods and principles, such as the efficiency gap, and sampling (using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method).
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Skowran, M. (2020). Ways to Evaluate Redistricting Plans. In: Jivetti, B., Hoque, M.N. (eds) Population Change and Public Policy. Applied Demography Series, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57069-9_16
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