"I cut, you choose" is really the only politically viable alternative to the current state of affairs.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/how-the-i-cut-yo...
Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
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Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#12"I cut, you choose" is really the only politically viable alternative to the current state of affairs. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/how-the-i-cut-yo...
It would require a more fundamental recognition of political parties than the constitution provides.
Gerrymandering is not a technological problem.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#13"I cut, you choose" is really the only politically viable alternative to the current state of affairs. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/how-the-i-cut-yo...
It would require a more fundamental recognition of political parties than the constitution provides. Gerrymandering is not a technological problem.
Why can't you just split elected representatives into two groups, regardless of stated political affiliation? One group then cuts, the other chooses.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#14"I cut, you choose" is really the only politically viable alternative to the current state of affairs. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/how-the-i-cut-yo...
It would require a more fundamental recognition of political parties than the constitution provides. Gerrymandering is not a technological problem.
Unfortunately, given Duverger's law [0], first past the post electoral systems eventually resolve into two party systems.
Essentially, in a first past the post system, voting for any other candidate other than the one both most likely to win AND whose politics most closely aligns with your own is effectively a vote for the major party candidate who least aligns with your politics.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law
edit for link.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#15>Some interesting patterns emerge, such as how with you can have compact and republican-biased but not compact and democrat-biased maps for some numbers of cities. This is a direct result of one party being forced into a small geographic area (cities). That's quite an interesting finding. I always understood that gerrymandeting is bad because the artificially winning parties get congressmen that are not representativ…
I've long advocated maximal competitiveness. Mostly to motivate voter participation.
I love how antimander illuminates the tradeoffs.
Along the lines of "preserving community", preserving continuity can also be a factor. On the presumption that voters don't want to have their congressional district designation changed every 10 years. For example. I know this is a consideration during redistricting.
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Antimander is real progress. The cites are terrific. I'm delighted that I even learned some new things, like the Seats-Votes Curve.
I've spoken with the Dave Bradlee many times over the last 15 years. He created a redistricting app that got some national media attention last cycle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave%27s_Redistricting
Some of those talks were pretty bleak. I'm so glad so many more people have engaged with this issue.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#16"I cut, you choose" is really the only politically viable alternative to the current state of affairs. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/how-the-i-cut-yo...
I've been trying to dream up ways to use general purpose strategies like this to mitigate regulatory capture. Applicable to two party systems with no clear obvious third party to forge a balance of powers, a durable trilemma.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would require a more fundamental recognition of political parties than the constitution provides. Gerrymandering is not a technological problem.
Why can't you just split elected representatives into two groups, regardless of stated political affiliation? One group then cuts, the other chooses.
Defections. Electeds will happily maximize their own personal power at someone else's expense. There are many examples of getting opposition support for inequity in exchange for safe seats.
People outside of (partisan) politics don't often get to see that the party orgs and the politicians are usually in conflict. More so on the left than on the right.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#18How hard would it be to change the congressional election system to proportional voting by party?
In California you would vote for 53 representatives, each representative would be part of a party. First the seats are divided among all parties based on some system. Then within each party the seats are given to the representatives that have the most votes within the party.
This would introduce new parties to the system, no party would be able to govern alone.
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#19As Congressional elections become more and more a national affair, why do we still have districts? Say a state gets 24 reps. Give me a ballot with all the candidates and let me mark the 24 I want. Yes the ballot will be more complicated, but this way we entirely avoid districting and the process is entirely fair (well until you consider states not being fairly drawn, but that’s one level up).
Re: Show HN: Antimander – Optimize Congressional Districts with Genetic Algorithms
#20As Congressional elections become more and more a national affair, why do we still have districts? Say a state gets 24 reps. Give me a ballot with all the candidates and let me mark the 24 I want. Yes the ballot will be more complicated, but this way we entirely avoid districting and the process is entirely fair (well until you consider states not being fairly drawn, but that’s one level up).
That of course defeats the purpose of smaller districts getting a voice and not being crushed by larger districts.