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Conference/Symposium

Steven Dunbar, UNL, and Kristin Pfabe, Nebraska Wesleyan University

Gerrymandering and Mathematics

Date:
Time:
4:00 pm – 4:50 pm
Avery Hall
Contact:
David Pitts, dpitts2@unl.edu
Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party or class. We’ll sketch the history of gerrymandering and the court cases around it. We’ll describe “packing” and “cracking,” the principal methods for gerrymandering. Quantifying gerrymandering leads to some interesting mathematics. We’ll show geometric ways of characterizing gerrymandering and some voter distribution measures, along with their advantages and disadvantages. Some very new gerrymandering measures using advanced statistical sampling are now being tested in the Supreme Court and we’ll survey those. Various remedies for gerrymandering are being considered in several states, including Nebraska, and we’ll finish with a discussion on them.

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This event originated in Math Colloquia.