This article on gerrymandersing got me thinking – what is a good way of saying “make your lines not too tortured, okay?”. I think that the ideal rule should be: all congressional districts must pass the rubber band test. You remember the rubber band test, right? It makes sure that a shape is convex – if a rubber band would fit snugly on all sides, then the shape passes the test.
This means that districts can be long and thin, but they can’t be nearly as extreme as the examples in the article.
Of course, we would have to be careful about things like state borders, which aren’t necessarily convex themselves. But, as long as we make an exception for the state boundaries, then it seems pretty straightforward to say “all congressional districts must pass the rubber band test”. Note that this doesn’t remove anyone’s ability to gerrymander completely, it merely attempts to keep the problem somewhat contained. Which is nice, as I am instinctively wary of one-shot mathematical solutions to complex sociological problems.
And this isn’t perfect, it just will eliminate the worst instances.
