In a framework with two parties, deterministic voter preferences and geographical constraints, we propose a set of simple axioms and show that they jointly characterize the districting rule that maximizes the number of districts a party can win, given an electoral outcome (the " optimal gerrymandering rule "). As a corollary, we obtain that no districting rule can satisfy our axioms and treat p...

This paper considers the problem of designing districts for vehicle routing problems with stochastic demands. In particular, demands are assumed to be uncertain at the time when the districts are made, and these are revealed only after the districting decisions are determined. Tabu search and multistart heuristics for this stochastic districting problem are developed and compared. Computational...

In this study, a simulated annealing approach is developed to find optimal police patrol district design using a discreteevent simulation to evaluate the performances of districting plans, such as average response time and workload variation among districts. Similar to the solution neighborhood definition in an existing simulated annealing approach, the new solution (districting plan) in each i...

In a framework with two parties, deterministic voter preferences and a type of geographical constraints, we propose a set of simple axioms and show that they jointly characterize the districting rule that maximizes the number of districts one party can win, given the distribution of individual votes (the " optimal gerrymandering rule "). As a corollary, we obtain that no districting rule can sa...

2 Districting Principles and Democratic Representation

Partisan gerrymandering poses a threat to democracy. Moreover, the complexity of the districting task may exceed human capacities. One potential solution is using computational models to automate the districting process by optimising objective and open criteria, such as how spatially compact districts are. We formulated one such model that minimised pairwise distance between voters within a dis...

This paper reviews a variety of criteria which have been proposed for legislative and congressional redistricting in the US and discusses the political and legal factors which have shaped 1980s redistricting. Particular attention is paid to the conflicts of interest between incumbents (seeking re-election), party organizations (seeking aggregate partisan advantage), minority interests (seeking ...

Genetic algorithms (GA) have been found to provide global near optimal solutions in a wide range of complex problems. In this paper genetic algorithms have been used to deal with the complex problem of zone design. The zone design problem comprises a large number of geographical tasks, from which electoral districting is probably the most well known. The electoral districting problem is describ...