Optimal redistricting under geographical constraints: Why "pack and crack" does not work

Puppe, Clemens and Tasnádi, Attila (2009) Optimal redistricting under geographical constraints: Why "pack and crack" does not work. Economics Letters, 105 (1). pp. 93-96. DOI 10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008

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Official URL: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165176509001967

Abstract

We show that optimal partisan redistricting with geographical constraints is a computationally intractable (NP-complete) problem. In particular, even when voter's preferences are deterministic, a solution is generally not obtained by concentrating opponent's supporters in \unwinnable" districts ("packing") and spreading one's own supporters evenly among the other districts in order to produce many slight marginal wins ("cracking").

Item Type:

Article

Series Number / Identification Number:

10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008

Uncontrolled Keywords:

districting, gerrymandering, NP-complete problems

Divisions:

Faculty of Economics > Department of Mathematics

Subjects:

Mathematics, Econometrics

DOI:

10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008