A Primer on Redistricting

By Howard Simkowitz

This Primer on Redistricting includes everything you and your organization need to know to create effective redistricting plans. To set the stage, the primer begins with a discussion of the data you will be using –Census TIGER 2000, P.L. 94-171 population and race data, political data. This is followed by a discussion of redistricting software and how it has evolved over the past ten years.  The section on redistricting law covers the important legal issues so that the plan you design can by defended successfully in a court of law. With a basic understanding in place, the primer then leads you step-by-step in creating a plan. Additional topics covered include verifying a plan (completeness, contiguity, compactness, computational integrity), standard reports, publishing plans in print and on the Internet, and sharing plans with others (importing and exporting plans using equivalency files).

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