Fair and Square Redistricting

The “Guide to Fair Maps” is written for citizens, advocates and commissioners, as well as legislators, lawyers and judges. This policy guide (1) discusses why Fair Maps are so important to preserve our representative democracy, (2) describes a straightforward test for gerrymandering; and (3) offers a procedure to eradicate gerrymandering while achieving other desired redistricting goals. The Guide presents a substantial number of illustrative maps which demonstrate that maps can be free of gerrymandering and attain other desired redistricting goals. It is not true that when you eliminate gerrymandering you must sacrifice other desired redistricting goals. An associated research paper, “Fair and Square Redistricting,” builds maps where the districts are compact and the maps are verified to be free of gerrymandering. For any state, numerous maps can be drawn that are of free gerrymandering. These foundational maps can then be adjusted to attain other desirable redistricting goals, as well.