I wouldn't be that opposed to this if California wasn't one of the most gerrymandered states in the country. In fact, I'd favor a nationwide district method if there were a sure fire way of creating fair congressional districts nationwide.
You mean like this?
I've seen similar (if not the same) thing proposed before and I am disinclined to put it in action. In several states you end up with strange slivers such as this one in Ohio stretching from the western edge of Cincinnati up to Springfield:
Also, as the mapmakers themselves note, sometimes a state has a highly concentrated population near a central line which creates odd shaped districts. The mapmakers use this crazy looking map of Colorado as an example:
Thus, I think that a mathematical method of creating the smallest possible district would be far superior to the splitline method. The would create more compact districts and avoid the splitting problem in Colorado. Also, I think that some man made boundaries should be considered important, such as voting precincts. It seems ridiculous to me that people within the same voting precinct would be voting for two different members of congress.
There is also the fact that some gerrymandering is acctually a good thing. When you are dealing with a city, or a regional that had a common identity, it makes more sense to keep it in one district.
