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Lattice Studies of Gerrymandering Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2020

Kyle Gatesman  and
James Unwin Open the ORCID record for James Unwin [Opens in a new window]
Kyle Gatesman
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD21218USA. Email: [email protected]
James Unwin*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL60607, USA. Email: [email protected] Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook, NY11794, USA
*
Corresponding author James Unwin
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Abstract

A new theoretical method for examining gerrymandering is presented based on lattice models of voters, in which districts are constructed by partitioning the lattice. We propose three novel algorithms for constructing equal-population, connected districts which favor the gerrymanderer and incorporate the spatial distribution of voters. Due to the probabilistic population fluctuations inherent to our voter models, Monte Carlo techniques can be applied to study the impact of gerrymandering. We use the method developed here to compare our different gerrymandering algorithms, show approaches which ignore spatial data lead to (legally prohibited) disconnected districts, and examine the effectiveness of isoperimetric quotient tests.

Keywords

spatial voting modelMonte Carlo methodslattices
Type
Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 167 - 192
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Political Methodology

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Footnotes

Edited by Jeff Gill

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