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Comment by thomasahle | Hacker News Reader

Why do you need individual data for gerrymandering? Don't you only need area level?

To optimally crack a district to bias in one parties favour it is often required to literally run a boundary down a street to separate one side (close to a university, say) from the other.

Once you've table voter preferences to actual street addresses you are no longer in the realm of "broad area cumulative averages and medians".

My favorite gerrymandering story was when I learned an ~800 student local college had been split down the middle, so students were in different congressional districts depending on their dorm building.

There is a stretch of US183 in Austin, Texas, which allows you to drive through seven congressional districts in a matter of minutes.

Also see: Nashville, Tennessee

Like your dormroom example, ATX is very progressive.

I live in Austin and, in 2018, I could go west and pass through 4 districts in a few miles. My own one you would exit and re-enter and exit again!

I actually made jigsaw puzzles to advocate against gerrymandering. They were difficult to solve! michaeldnahas.com/doc/jigsaw_puzzle/index.html

My Texian childhood was in three congressional districts (small town feeding into one high school).

It's much worse, now.

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The fact that there are non-contiguous US Congressional districts (e.g. TN's 2nd/3rd have inholdings within each other) makes the entire process even sillier.

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