Mock 26: The X-rated gerrymander
Is it possible to gerrymander Polk and Johnson counties together? There is, in fact, a workable (if no way compact) population-match district with that five-county span, plus Boone and Warren. Envision (or draw) it on a map and you’ll understand both the title and why I bailed on it immediately.
Obscene in a totally different way is the proposal for Illinois’ congressional districts.
Mock 26B: Perimeter parameter problems, possibly passable
District 1/2: [raises eyebrow] Fascinating. Two Hubbell-Trump districts in mostly reasonable outlines, with Linn and Johnson.
District 3: Although Polk, Dallas, and Story are unified, it’s not a great shape at all, and it eats deeply into…
District 4: If the Legislature thought a Cresco-to-Hamburg district spanning “almost” half the state was bad, this one bumps it up a notch. Perimeter and compactness rules will probably sink this one, but the population variance is better than the official first plan — by 1.
Mock 26C: The Story County snake
Districts 1/2: Same as the other.
District 3: I decided not to show 26A because while its variance was great in a vacuum (138), it’s more than the LSA’s first map. This one springs from that one, swapping Guthrie and Adair for Mills and Adams, but the outline of the 3rd makes Story County stick out like a sore thumb. At least Polk and Dallas are together. Pottawattamie has 5,000 fewer people than Story, preventing a slightly better-looking district. This district is a fever dream, but I’m not sure whose fever.
District 4: Woooow, look at those variances. The perimeter has minimal jut-ins from other districts. But the shape of District 3 harms this map overall.
The LSA intends to put out its second draft this week. Remember, in the state senate districts, there are a few complications required to ensure 50 senators do not face incumbent-on-incumbent matches.