Technology for Public Participation in Redistricting

Redistricting is among the least transparent processes in democratic governance. Often, politicians shape districts behind closed doors with little or no input from the public.1 The resulting lines embody the political goals of politicians and not the public interest, as much as the goals of the two groups do not overlap.2 Politicians use redistricting to realign their constituencies to further their careers, secure legislative majorities, and affect racial representation. They do so by splitting communities, not drawing politically fair plans nor drawing competitive districts. As the reform saw goes, in redistricting, politicians select voters rather than voters electing politicians. The public is blissfully unaware of the importance of redistricting to the functioning of democracy.3 A key reason is that in the past expensive redistricting tools have been available only to well-funded organizations. Sophisticated geographic information systems manipulate complex geospatial data to draw districts that satisfy often-complex federal and state legal requirements. Lacking the tools to draw alternative redistricting plans, the public and the media are reactive to lines drawn by politicians. So, the lack of tools severely limits our ability to determine whether there is an alternative way to approach redistricting that may be better on the goals not within the choice set of politicians. The authors seek to change this informational deficit by enabling the public to draw redistricting plans. Leveraging recent technological innovations, we have created open-source, easy-to-use redistricting software that is accessible to users through their web browsers. We have begun deploying the software to engage the public in redistricting, with our first success in educating students, the public, and policymakers experienced in Virginia through a redistricting competition. Here, we describe the potential for technology to