Nonpartisan Political Redistricting by Computer

S. W. Hess; J. B. Weaver; H. J. Siegfeldt; J. N. Whelan; P. A. Zitlau

doi:10.1287/opre.13.6.998

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Nonpartisan Political Redistricting by Computer

S. W. Hess¹; J. B. Weaver¹; H. J. Siegfeldt²; J. N. Whelan²; P. A. Zitlau²

¹ Atlas Chemical Industries, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware · ² E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Delaware

Operations Research 1965

OR volunteers developed a compart ness measure and a “warehouse-location” heuristic to draw nonpartisan, Constitutional political districts. The heuristic maps compact and contiguous districts of equal population. The minimization criterion and compactness measure is population moment of inertia—the summed squared distances from each person to his district's center. The districting method is particularly useful when legislative impasse or indifference forces courts to intervene. Federal Courts have received a computer plan for possible use in Delaware and have asked for computer districts in Connecticut.

DOI: 10.1287/opre.13.6.998
Volume: 13 (6)
Pages: 998-1006
Language: en
Export: BibTeX
Sources: crossref