Below are three discussion posts made by students to the following discussion topic. Please write a 1-2 paragraph response to EACH of the three posts!

Discussion 4 - Electoral Geography

If you were assigned the task to create political districts at the state and/or national level, from a political geography standpoint, how would you draw districts? Take into consideration any current mandates based on law as well as geography (what would make the most compact groups).

You can also address the following: Is it even possible to have 1 person, 1 vote in our country? Is there a better way to draw districts (based on geography)?

Student One's Post:

One aspect I would probably focus on when drawing districts would be the demographics that make the largest impact on the area. For example, if it is a mostly low income area, I would not put a piece of a more wealthy area into that district. The area of the district that is not low income is not going to have the same interests as the lower income citizens. However, creating lower and higher income districts could be an issue, because certain districts may be overlooked more, and may not receive as much attention given their status. Another demographic to consider is age. For example, if it is a district around a university, they might need different council than a suburb known for retirees. However, the biggest consideration would likely be population. Of course, if there are fewer people in an area then the district will spread over a wider area. This way, certain districts are not overlooked and neglected because they do not concern as many people.

As far as creating districts for electoral purposes, it is difficult to say how I would allocate district lines to ensure it is fair, based on what I've learned about political geography. Avoiding gerrymandering seems like an extremely difficult task that requires constant review of the public census. Not to mention, those districts are being created based solely on the populations political views. I think it would be better to draw district lines based on the most important demographics of the area. Of course, I would not want to segregate certain areas based on age, race, or income, but I do think that if certain areas are to get what is needed, it is better if the majority of the community is on the same page. But, maybe it would instead be better to draw the district lines where it mixes communities, and requires district leaders to accommodate different types of citizens and help to erase some of the invisible boarders we tend to put up in our communities. I really do not know which way would work better.

Student Two's Post:

Drawing political district lines are almost impossible to draw fairly and impartially by any party. I struggle with this issue time and time again whenever the topic arises in discussion. On one hand, it would be easy to just have geographical squares become new voting districts in elections and take demographics out of it, but on the other hand, each person having an equal vote as in a direct democratic election could be considered more fair. The problem is currently that if each person had a vote, the nation would be split almost exactly in half with democrats taking the win almost every time because of the demographics and social issues arising in our country. If I were a Republican farmer in Iowa, I wouldn't consider my voice to be heard if that was the case, and we would run into a similar problem that we did during the civil war where the North had a lot more say than the South did when it came to federal laws. Obviously the laws that were being passed were a little bit more consequential (slavery and state's rights) but the principle remains the same. If each person had a voice, the voices of the urban areas would be more heard than people living in rural areas which would cause issues.

Because of this, I believe we should just have every 100,000 people represent one district in as reasonably square shape as possible from left to right in each state. Those straight forward guidelines wouldn't leave too much space for bias. My only worry is that the idea of district lines indirectly influences where people decide to live, but there is no way to control that. Grouping people by how similar they are in their voting behavior becomes very polarizing at the end of the day. People need to learn to have conversations with people who are different from them and that might be a good lesson if we draw the lines regardless of the people who live there.

Student Three's Post:

Drawing political districts is a very controversial topic in today's society. Unfortunately, there will never be a perfect system for drawing political districts. Geography is a great asset to start creating districts. However, land is not everything. You must have a huge population to create a majority. District maps are defined by the state lawmakers. The problem is, politicians are biased and draw districts to favor one party over another. Fortunately, our technology advances have helped with mapping, visualization and data analysis. Drawing of districts should take an account the characteristics such as class, education, religion, ethnicity and age. The only problem with this method, is you can predict the outcome of the voting behavior. Geography should not be the fundamental aspect for voting and elections. Geography should be the background for the voting procedure. Honestly, I do not see a better way for drawing districts. I do believe we should continue to have the 1 person, 1 vote in our country!