Introduction / Moon Duchin -- Explainer : compactness, by the numbers / Moon Duchin -- Measuring partisan fairness / Mira Bernstein and Olivia Walch -- Interviews : concepts of representation / Moon Duchin and Olivia Walch -- Redistricting : math, systems, or people? / Keith Gaddie -- Political geography and representation / Jonathan Rodden and Thomas Weighill -- Explainer : a brief introduction to the VRA / Arusha Gordon and Douglas M. Spencer -- Race and redistricting / Ellen D. Katz -- Law, computing and redistricting in the 1960s / Alma Steingart -- The law of gerrymandering / Guy-Uriel Charles and Douglas M. Spencer -- Race, space, and the geography of representation / Christopher S. Fowler -- The elusive geography of communities / Garrett Dash Nelson -- Explainer : communities of interest / Heather Rosenfeld and Moon Duchin -- Geography as data / Lee Hachadoorian and Ruth Buck -- The applications of entropy / Larry Guth, Ari Nieh, and Thomas Weighill -- Explainer : measuring clustering and segregation / Moon Duchin and James M. Murphy -- Redistricting algorithms / Amariah Becker and Justin Solomon -- Random walks / Daryl Deford and Moon Duchin -- Making maps / Megan Gall, Karin Mac Donald and Fred McBride -- Interview : drawing for the courts / Moon Duchin and Olivia Walch -- Explainer : ranked choice voting / Thomas Weighill and Moon Duchin -- Reform on the ground in Lowell, MA / Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal and Oren Sellstrom -- Explainer : race vs. party / Arusha Gordon -- The state of play in voting rights / Kristen Clarke and Arusha Gordon -- Epilogue : the view from 2022 / Moon Duchin.
Summary:
"'Why does my congressional district look like a salamander?' Politically engaged citizens have been asking this question for far too long. This volume collects perspectives from a wide cross-section of disciplines to explain what drives gerrymandering, why it can be hard to stamp out, and how we might go about fixing it. With topics ranging from the Voting Rights Act to Markov chains to the geography of communities, this book serves as a 21st century toolkit for how we can better approach this corrosive phenomenon. The volume editors gather experts from a variety of fields to provide as many different perspectives on gerrymandering as possible. Thanks to the breadth of expertise found across these chapters, ranging from lawyers to mathematicians to civil rights activists, readers will discover new ways of thinking about redistricting in the United States. Illustrations and helpful walkthroughs appear throughout to clearly explain otherwise complex ideas from these areas. Political Geometry is a must-have for anybody interested in political representation in the United States elections, and for anyone who's ever thought, 'There must be a better way to do this'." -- Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.