Let There Be Light: Redistricting and New Public Tools

By Frank Hebbert, Associate Planner, RPA

As even the cavemen knew, tools can be used for both good and ill. Fire can burn, cook and kill. And so it is with the computer, the Internet and all the other high-tech tools that have sprung up in recent decades.

Sophisticated GIS mapping tools can be used to draw legislative districts that predictably return the "right" party to office. It was apparently savoring these powers that prompted the relatively new New York State Senate President Malcom Smith to tell supporters last week, as quoted in a New York Times article, that Democrats would redraw districts to keep Republicans "in oblivion" for the next 20 years. Some might say this is not a virtuous use of the computer's power.

But the same tools can also be used by those who seek to expand the choices given to the electorate, not close them off. It's quite possible that citizens and public interest groups can create a non-partisan redistricting map, publicly and collaboratively, as a starting point for the discussions kicking off later this year in state capitals. We the public have access to the data, tools and social networks to make a people's redistricting possible.

It is banal to remind you how partisan the current practice of redistricting is. In my opinion, it's also anti-democratic and reprehensible. But it's something conducted with equal gusto on all sides, whether Republicans in Austin or Democrats closer to home in Albany. A few people may stand up--like Ed Koch, looking to reform New York State government with his recent New York Uprising campaign. And not all states let poachers be the gamekeepers; some have introduced bipartisan commissions, including Arizona.

It's also something that has been going on for a long time. The computer did not invent this trend, merely multiplied its potential. Redrawing districts to suit the incumbent party has been going on since the early 19th century, when the term "gerrymandering" was used to describe a congressional district around Boston drawn by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry that looked like a salamander. Naming districts to point out their absurdity continues today--last week's Times article was accompanied by a slideshow of districts in New York State, including one described as "Lincoln riding a vacuum cleaner."

In the past, redistricting has been opaque, a black box from which new legislative districts emerged. But new powers may bring the old ways to an end, and make it difficult to draw highly partisan lines on a map and push through the changes with no regard for public comment.

The latest open source mapping tools allow us to produce maps and analysis as good as any from a commercial mapping system. And our ideas and voices can be amplified across the mighty social networks of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and email. We--you and I and all our neighbors--can together draw out the boundaries that best reflect our communities, and present them as a starting point for any boundary changes to come. Working off public information, I can suggest a boundary, and you can modify it. We can discuss these alternatives, transparently and openly on websites. We can bring others into the conversation, and disseminate our ideas online and into the physical world.

Of course, drawing out equitable boundaries is the easy part, compared to the advocacy efforts needed to change thinking in Albany, Trenton, Hartford and beyond. We aren't ready to start redistricting tomorrow either, because while the tools and data and networks all exist, they have not yet been focused onto this problem. But the tools will be ready, once the need is apparent--see how the new openness of the MTA with its schedule and route data is already leading to a proliferation of new ways to plan your transit journey.

Let's use the collective brainpower of the New York region to shed light on--and inform--the partisan, un-democratic behavior that goes on in Albany. We have the tools, the data, the people and the necessity. And November is fast approaching. Come the hour, cometh the people. Let's get started.