The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation

Abstract

Three developments have created challenges for political representation in the U.S. and particularly for the use of territorially based representation (election by district). First, the demographic complexity of the U.S. population has grown both in absolute terms and in terms of residential patterns. Second, legal developments since the 1960s have recognized an increasing number of groups as eligible for voting rights protection. Third, the growing technical capacities of computer technology, particularly Geographic Information Systems, have allowed political parties and other organizations to create election districts with increasingly precise political and demographic characteristics. Scholars have made considerable progress in measuring and evaluating the racial and partisan biases of districting plans, and some states have tried to use Geographic Information Systems technology to produce more representative districts. However, case studies of Texas and Arizona illustrate that such analytic and technical advances have not overcome the basic contradictions that underlie the American system of territorial political representation.redistricting ͉ gerrymandering ͉ geographic information systems

Electoral geography: From mapping votes to representing power

“…While there is no single measure of what constitutes gerrymandering, it is generally understood to mean a configuration of election district boundaries that confers an unfair advantage (or disadvantage) to a political party or minority group (Johnston, 2002a(Johnston, , 2002bRush, 2000;Webster, 2013). The determination of what constitutes an "unfair" advantage (or disadvantage) is ultimately a political decision rather than a scientific one (Forest, 2005). The determination of what constitutes an "unfair" advantage (or disadvantage) is ultimately a political decision rather than a scientific one (Forest, 2005).…”

“…Although proportionality is an attractive baseline for measuring gerrymandering, the seat-vote ratio mean that even districting plans created through a non-partisan process will typically produce non-proportional election results. The determination of what constitutes an "unfair" advantage (or disadvantage) is ultimately a political decision rather than a scientific one (Forest, 2005).…”

Geography, Space, and Science: Perspectives from Studies of Migration and Geographical Sorting

“…Different electoral districts create very different outcomes for legislatures and representation in general. How voters are grouped into districts also affects the balance of power between political parties (Forest 2005). It is little wonder that districting and redistricting has become a major focus of political scientists and others interested in voting outcomes.…”

“…As Forest notes, GIS technology is now the major way in which districts are created and recreated. GIS can display and manipulate the basic data, demographic, and voting, which is the basis of creating a voting district—a geographic district (Forest 2005). Clearly, geography is at the heart of this process but beyond districting and redistricting political behavior is not much investigated.…”

Theoretical and Practical Possibilities of Lower-Medium-Level Spatial Division

“…Many studies (Csanádi-Ladányi 1992, Dusek 2001, Forest 2005, Bömermann 2012) prove, however, that the results of research are closely related to spatial division, so they can highlight or disguise the different characteristics excessively. Spatial division, playing an important role in many fields of science, the characteristics of the formation of spatial structures applied in social scientific analyses and public administration is examined in connection with the subject of the paper.…”