Redistricting Washington with ten districts

[CultureKing]

The third way goes across the central Cascades. This can use either Stevens Pass to Wenatchee or Snoqualmie Pass to Ellensburg. Either of these will link Wenatchee or Yakima to suburban Seattle. My version below includes a mix of population from the east in both the south and central corridors. It is possible to make it central only as well by extending the Yakima district well to the west.

Arguably, Skamania and Klickitat are best placed in a western district due to their links along the Columbia to Vancouver.

Besides US 2 over Stevens Pass Stevens Pass web cam there is the main northern US transcontinental railroad route.  Chelan County was set off from Kittitas County in the 1899 because it was so difficult to travel to the county seat in Ellensburg in winter.  Travellers had to travel via Seattle or Spokane by railroad.City of Wenatchee - Great Northern Railroad

I don't think there would be any toleration of any east-west connections except for the Columbia route in the south, the passes are just too vulnerable to the weather and having an entire mountain range make a 50 mile barrier between two sides of a congressional district would just be too much.

[muon2]

The third way goes across the central Cascades. This can use either Stevens Pass to Wenatchee or Snoqualmie Pass to Ellensburg. Either of these will link Wenatchee or Yakima to suburban Seattle. My version below includes a mix of population from the east in both the south and central corridors. It is possible to make it central only as well by extending the Yakima district well to the west.

Arguably, Skamania and Klickitat are best placed in a western district due to their links along the Columbia to Vancouver.

Besides US 2 over Stevens Pass Stevens Pass web cam there is the main northern US transcontinental railroad route.  Chelan County was set off from Kittitas County in the 1899 because it was so difficult to travel to the county seat in Ellensburg in winter.  Travellers had to travel via Seattle or Spokane by railroad.City of Wenatchee - Great Northern Railroad

I don't think there would be any toleration of any east-west connections except for the Columbia route in the south, the passes are just too vulnerable to the weather and having an entire mountain range make a 50 mile barrier between two sides of a congressional district would just be too much.

The question then is what to attach to Vancouver. Would there be more tolerance to split the city of Yakima, or to split the tri-city region with Kennewick separated from the cities across the rivers?

BTW, there are similar difficulties for a 6-CD Oregon. The east side is too big for a single CD, and part has to go to the west side. From the way projection look, either the Medford area gets split, or a Portland-area Clackamas district extends east past The Dalles.

[Brittain33]

BTW, there are similar difficulties for a 6-CD Oregon. The east side is too big for a single CD, and part has to go to the west side. From the way projection look, either the Medford area gets split, or a Portland-area Clackamas district extends east past The Dalles.

In the 1970s, when Ogreon had 4 districts, the 2nd district's western boundary followed the Willamette River and included all of Marion County, the southeastern (and probably underinhabited) 90% of Clackamas County, and a slice of northern Linn County. The cities of Salem and Albany were included.

In Washington, the tri-cities were split between the 5th district and 4th district along county lines, and the 4th stretched west to include most of Clark County. Grant and Okanogan counties were also split between the 5th and 4th, which means county boundaries weren't that important and someone had to decide it just didn't matter if you split up the tri-cities.

[Brittain33]

I don't think there would be any toleration of any east-west connections except for the Columbia route in the south, the passes are just too vulnerable to the weather and having an entire mountain range make a 50 mile barrier between two sides of a congressional district would just be too much.

The weather angle is an interesting one... this discussion had me looking at the map of Colorado, a state I just returned from, and the 2nd district has a hell of a "can't get there from here" link-up across the Rockies of Boulder with the ski resorts. Even getting to I-70 from Boulder requires driving through at least 2 othr districts.

I don't enough about the pass west of Colorado Springs to say if the 5th district's inclusion of counties west of the Rockies is rational or not.

[jimrtex]

I don't think there would be any toleration of any east-west connections except for the Columbia route in the south, the passes are just too vulnerable to the weather and having an entire mountain range make a 50 mile barrier between two sides of a congressional district would just be too much.

The weather angle is an interesting one... this discussion had me looking at the map of Colorado, a state I just returned from, and the 2nd district has a hell of a "can't get there from here" link-up across the Rockies of Boulder with the ski resorts. Even getting to I-70 from Boulder requires driving through at least 2 othr districts.

You can go south from Boulder, or you can go west from Boulder and then south through Gilpin and Clear Creek.   Average traffic per day between Summit and Clear Creek counties is 32,000 cars.

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All of CD 5 is on the eastern slope.  It is a little bit difficult to get from CD 5 to CD3.  If the districts were being changed to recognize the mountains, you would only move the 3 western counties from 2 to 3.  CD 5 is quite reasonable being with Colorado Springs.

CD3 is kind of messed up because it includes both Pueblo and most of the western slope.  When Colorado got its 4th district, it created an underpopulated district on the Western Slope, with about 1/2 the population of the other 3 districts.   At that time, there were no paved roads over the mountains.  By the time of the reapportionment decisions of the 1960s, the Western Slope distict was way underpopulated (3.3 : 1) between the largest and smallest.

Eventually, they linked the Western Slope with the San Luis Valley, and Pueblo, with about 1/2 the district in the east.  Since then, there has been enough growth on the Western Slope that perhaps less of Pueblo could be used, but it would probably need to be split.  To keep it whole, some of the smaller counties in the center of the state have been attached to the Boulder and Colorado Springs district.

[jimrtex]

Here's a version that follows your connectivity, maintains the 0.5% deviation, only splits the three big counties, and generally addresses the negatives.



Tacoma is now in a Pierce-only district so only the remainder of Pierce only makes up 20% of the Olympia district. The Everett district is 63% Snohomish and 37% Kitsap. The remainder of Snohomish is only 37% of the Bellingham district. So, King dominates 3 districts, and Pierce and Snohomish each dominates one district.

This uses your statewide map and adjusts the districts in the Puget Sound area.




Island is shifted to the Pacific Coast-Olympic Peninsula-Olympia district.   This reduces the portion from Pierce, to about 10% of the district, the area NW of the Tacoma Narrows.

The northern district comes further south, and now is almost a 50-50 split between the 3 northern counties and Snohomish.  It includes Everett and areas to the east and north.

The transcade district is now split: Snohomish 56%, Chelan-Douglas 17%, King 16%, Pierce 11%, with Edmonds and the Seattle suburbs south of Everett dominating the district.

The split in King County is:

(1) Seattle, Shoreline, and a few small towns across Lake Washington near Medina.

(2) Southern suburbs as far east as Tukwilla, Kent, and Auburn, plus Vashon Island, and Kitsap County.  About 63% of the district is in King County, and it includes 23% of the county.

(3) Eastern suburbs across Lake Washington, including Redmond, Bellevue, and Renton, as far east as Sammamish and Issaquah, as far south as Covington and Maple Valley.

(3) The eastern part of the county, beginning with Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, Mirromont, Hobart, Black Diamond, Lake Morton, Berryhill, and Lea Hill.  This is about 16% of the entire district, 6% of the county.

The split in Pierce County:

(1) Gig Harbor area, NW of Tacoma Narrows, about 10% of district, and 8% of the county.

(2) Tacoma and southern and eastern suburbs, as far east as Sumner, Puyallup, Orting, and Graham.  83% of the county.

(3) Eastern part of county, with most in the Bonney Lake, Prairie Ridge SSE of Auburn, about 11% of the district, and 9% of the county.

This moves the 3-way split from Snohomish to Pierce.  The split in Pierce is pretty reasonable with most of the built-up area in the Tacoma district.

Since the transportation link is US 2 and Stevens Pass, I think Snohomish is a better pairing than King for Chelan and Douglas.  The northern Seattle suburbs are a bit more distant than those across Lake Washington, and I think it is reasonable to include Everett in the northern district.

I also like the southern suburbs paired with Kitsap.  The Edmonds-Kingston ferry appears to be a bit more oriented toward being a link to the Port Angeles and Port Townsend areas.  A small flaw is that the terminus of the southern ferry from Kitsap and Vashon Island is actually in the southern tip of Seattle, but only about 1.5 miles from White Center.

[Cubby]

I'm going to try and redistrict Idaho with 3 districts. Which it may get 2020 if it keeps growing at its current pace. Its not guaranteed, but its certainly possible.

[CultureKing]

I'm going to try and redistrict Idaho with 3 districts. Which it may get 2020 if it keeps growing at its current pace. Its not guaranteed, but its certainly possible.

Your challenge: Gerrymander Idaho to the point where 1 out of the three districts is Democrat-favored (no one tell him its impossible!)

[Cubby]

I'm going to try and redistrict Idaho with 3 districts. Which it may get 2020 if it keeps growing at its current pace. Its not guaranteed, but its certainly possible.

Your challenge: Gerrymander Idaho to the point where 1 out of the three districts is Democrat-favored (no one tell him its impossible!)

I'll have enough trouble just making a map, I didn't even think of partisan advantages. I bet all 3 of the districts will have to include part of Ada County (Boise) unless a lot more growth takes place in Kootenai and Canyon. The Southeast corner isn't growing as fast. And Blaine County may be very Democratic, but with only 22,000 people, its too small to have much of an impact on any potential district.