Redistricting and the 2020 Census

I am joined by Dr. Megan Gall who is a senior researcher for the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  We talk about how GIS is used in redistricting, gerrymandering and how census data is used to draw maps.

Show Notes:

Supreme Court Weighs Claims That Texas Voting Maps Discriminate Against Minorities

https://nyti.ms/2FeGfx9

Supreme Court, Again Weighing Map Warped by Politics, Shows No Consensus

https://nyti.ms/2urC3dD

A Case for Math, Not 'Gobbledygook,' in Judging Partisan Voting Maps  

https://nyti.ms/2FBSCoq

Current topics in redistricting:

• Methods and thresholds
• Entire map? Specific districts
• Voting Rights Act

Essential guidelines used to draw district boundaries.

• Methods:  People vs Algorithms - are they better/worse?
• Puzzle Map for North Carolina

GIS software in play that makes this work possible.

• Maptitude, Esri, QGIS

GIS datasets that are important.

• Census - redistricting summary file, census block - building block of districts, counties, census tracks, other demographic data, prison populations, current districts and voting precincts.

Importance of Census data.

Changes to census in 2020 that affect redistricting.

Reach out to Megan at:  mgall@naacpldf.org

Kurt is usually at kurt@speakingofgis.com

Also here:  @SpeakingofGIS