US with Canadian parties

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

We're using an identical formula to Canada's, with N/435 instead of N/279. One of the Canadians here can probably explain how the formula actually works better than I can.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'll be working on Minnesota, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania through the night.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

MINNESOTA

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I'm not fond of Ramsey--Washington, only because the Minneapolis riding is called, well, Minneapolis and I feel that the name of St Paul should be in that of its riding. The alternative would be to rename the Minneapolis riding Hennepin East and have the Anoka riding as Anoka--Hennepin West or something along those lines.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Staten Island certainly ought to be its own district; its population is 80% of ideal, but logical boundaries are more important than exact equality.

A quick question... the bit of the Staten Island riding not on Staten Island, and determined to be excised from the riding... which riding is it joining instead?

The western Brooklyn riding.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I like it!

Speaking of the New York inset,

NEW JERSEY



Closeup of Passaic and Bergen splits



Blue: Camden
Green: Pine Barrens--Cape May
Purple: Pine Barrens--Atlantic City
Red: Blue Ocean
Gold: Monmouth
Teal: Central Jersey
Silver: Raritan
Lavender: Morris
Sky blue: Skylands--Watergap
Pink: Paterson--Bergen West
Chartreuse: Bergen East
Cornflower: Hudson
Buff: Newark
Olive: Elizabeth

(Since most of these are just counties, I thought using too many county names would get boring, so I went for kind of quixotic naming. A lot of New Jersey counties have common or sound-like-they-would-be-common (for counties) names anyway, such as Essex or Middlesex or Union.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

My only concern with Vazdul's map is Somerset going in with the Skylands, though it's still much better than what is actually done in that area in real life. My mother lives in the northern populated part of Burlington County, actually, so I know how the population dynamics there are, and the Burlington/Atlantic riding was my biggest problem with my own map too. Paterson--Hackensack is a little oddly-shaped at first glance but from a CoI standpoint it does probably make more sense. Well-done.

I'm considering doing Pennsylvania later, either tonight or tomorrow.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Some of my family's in Morristown. From my experience of the area that actually does work better. The area around Lake Hopatcong is definitely Skylands.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

We now have ridings called Delta, Delta--Natchez, and Mississippi Delta. Would it be possible to rename one or more, like to Mouths of the Mississippi perhaps?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm going to be making a municipalities map of Vazdul's second New Jersey, the one with the (I think) more coherent Skylands riding, and then I'll get around to Pennsylvania.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I would suggest Leelanau--Traverse City--Huron for your Central Michigan. Especially since people would probably actually consider that area Northern Michigan for the most part.

I'm giving up on Pennsylvania for the moment; I'm simply not familiar enough with the state outside the south-central area. Instead, I can offer my services to come up with names for the ridings in those states (Missouri, Georgia, and Louisiana, I think) whose ridings don't have names yet, unless somebody else wants to.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I crave your indulgence(s):







?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I for one like your Wisconsin map. It works pretty well from a CoI standpoint.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Georgia, I should point out, is Bacon King's map, not mine; I just named the ridings.

Also, I lied, here's Pennsylvania.







Riding names (DRA color order)

Philadelphia North-East
Philadelphia South-East
Philadelphia West
Bucks
Delaware--Media (to distinguish it from the Province of Delaware)
Norristown
Reading--Pottstown
Chester
Lancaster
Dauphin--Lebanon--Schuykill
Lehigh Valley
Scranton--Poconos
Wyoming Valley
York--Gettysburg
Mechanicsburg--Chambersburg
Allegheny Front (could also be called Altoona--State College--Williamsport)
Allegheny Plateau (could also be called Allegheny)
Monongahela
Johnstown--Greensburg
Pittsburgh
Three Rivers
Erie--Crawford--Mercer
Beaver--Oil City

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

New riding names in the changed area: Poconos--Sayre and The Valley, Wyoming Valley, Harrisburg--Mid-Susquehanna, Altoona--State College, Allegheny. It should be obvious which is which. One can even out the populations a little more by putting Schuykill in Poconos--Sayre and The Valley, but that looks atrocious and makes no sense. The hemicycle of mountainous counties north and east of the Wyoming Valley is a community of interest. Schuykill County is not part of that community of interest. Bradford County barely is (the community of interest of which it is really part crosses state lines up towards Elmira), but it has to be in it for the populations to work at all without splitting anything.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Please keep my ridings in the west and south-east intact. I'm quite proud of those setups. Other than that I'm more than willing to see what you come up with.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Please keep my ridings in the west and south-east intact. I'm quite proud of those setups. Other than that I'm more than willing to see what you come up with.

Nothing will be changed in the southeast (York- Gettysburg, Lancaster, Berks, Lehigh Valley are considered the borders of the southeast for this purpose) or in Allegheny County, but I may have to shift a couple of things in the west. The central part of the state is what will likely be changed most, however. Unfortunately, my browser just crashed, which means I have to start over. I'll try again after dinner.

Thanks! York--Gettysburg and Lancaster are the parts of the state I'm most familiar with in any case. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the central part!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

And here we are!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm currently spending some time working on Texas. I'll want feedback on several of the rural ridings.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

TEXAS









Ridings, DRA color order:

Beaumont--Port Arthur--Livingston. Normally Tory, might be amenable to a Grit very occasionally. Formerly Grit.
Nacogdoches--Tyler--Marshall. Tory.
Texarkana--Denison. Tory.
Collin. Tory.
Denton. Tory.
Trinity River. Tory.
Dallas South--Grand Prairie. Formerly Grit, now Dipper.
Dallas Center. Formerly Grit, now Dipper, but might fall Tory in waves.
Dallas North--Mesquite--Garland. Tory.
Arlington. Tory.
Irving--Benbrook. Tory.
Fort Worth. Swingy, would more likely than not go Tory in 2011 but might more normally lean Grit. Would probably not go Dipper except with a very good, preferably Hispanic candidate.
Wichita Falls--Cleburne. One of the most hardcore Tory ridings in the entire country.
Waco. Usually Tory, would be open to the right Grit.
San Angelo--Hill Country--San Marcos. Tory, Tory, Tory.
Abilene--Amarillo. Tory as the day God made it.
Llano Estacado. Do I really even need to say it?
El Paso. Grit/Dipper?! Good heavens, really?!
Rio Grande. Whichever party the Hispanics in the area vote for, probably Dipper at this point, I would think.
Hidalgo. Almost as Grit/Dipper as Wichita Falls--Cleburne is Tory.
Brownsville--Corpus Christi. Somewhat marginal Grit, could go either Tory or Dipper in 2011.
Austin. Dipper to the core.
Round Rock--Pflugerville. Somewhat more marginal Tory than most non-urban, non-Hispanic Texas ridings, but still relatively safe.
San Antonio Center. Hardcore Dipper.
San Antonio North--Cross Mountain. Tory.
San Antonio South--Victoria. Tory.
Galveston--Matagorda. Tory.
Sugar Land--Rosenberg--Hempstead. Usually Tory.
College Station--The Woodlands. If possible, might actually be harder-line Tory than Wichita Falls--Cleburne.
Houston East. Tory.
Houston South East. Grit/Dipper.
Houston West. Tory.
Houston South West. Grit/Dipper.
Houston North Central. Grit/Dipper.
Houston North. Tory.

The Houston ridings could have 'Harris' substituted in their names. I'm really unsure about San Antonio South--Victoria but I don't know what else to do in that area.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

If you look at a demographic map of Houston the ethnic communities of interest kind of radiate outward in sectors. I'll do another Harris map with a central riding, though, and we can decide which we like better.

ETA:



Houston Center, Houston East, Houston West, Harris East, Harris North, Harris West (or Houston East-Central, Houston West-Central, Houston East, Houston North, Houston West).

I really like the first way better. Houston just divides much more naturally into segments than it does into rings.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Maybe. But usually the central parts of cities tend to be politically different then the rest of the city.  I must admit though, I don't know Houston that well.

Not really, in the case of Houston. Or rather, the left-leaning central part of Houston is large enough for several ridings, which are most naturally divided in sectors. Here's a demographic map of Harris County, for what it's worth:

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Just so you know, I'm working on California now.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

California should be up once I actually find time to sit down and screencap it all.