Constituencies of a parliamentary US

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

That is a terrible way to draw West Virginia into 4 Districts.

I split 0 counties and I created compact districts. I also kept the coalfields whole.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

That is a terrible way to draw West Virginia into 4 Districts.

I split 0 counties and I created compact districts. I also kept the coalfields whole.

It is possible to split 0 counties and create compact districts in this scenario without making them look so ugly.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

That is a terrible way to draw West Virginia into 4 Districts.

I split 0 counties and I created compact districts. I also kept the coalfields whole.

It is possible to split 0 counties and create compact districts in this scenario without making them look so ugly.

How can they possibly be seen as ugly?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Lowlands:
Charleston
Myrtle Beach
Hilton Head-Aiken
Santee

Uplands:
Columbia
Lexington-Murray
Kershaw
Spartanburg
Greenville
Clemson

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Southern GA:
Savannah
Waycross-Vidalia
Valdosta
Columbus
Augusta
Macon

Inner Atlanta Metro:
Atlanta North
Atlanta South
Decatur
Stone Mountain
Gwinett
Marietta

Atlanta exurbs+Northern GA:
Griffin
LaGrange
Athens
Hartwell
Gainesville
Dalton
Rome

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Paducah
Bowling Green
Somerset
Louisville East
Louisville West-Fort Knox
Nicholasville
Lexington
Ashland
Covington

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Memphis South
Memphis North
Jackson-Dyersburg
Tennessee
Murfreesboro
Nashville South
Nashville North-Clarksville
Lebanon-Cookeville
Crossville
Chattanooga
Maryville
Knoxville
Johnson City

[libertpaulian]

Indiana next please!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Indiana next please!

I'm moving east to west so Indiana is likely to be one of the states up soon. Florida, Alabama, and Indiana are the most easterly states I haven't done yet. Those three along with Mississippi and Wisconsin are the only states east of the Mississippi so far unfinished.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

That is a terrible way to draw West Virginia into 4 Districts.

I split 0 counties and I created compact districts. I also kept the coalfields whole.

It is possible to split 0 counties and create compact districts in this scenario without making them look so ugly.

How can they possibly be seen as ugly?

For starters, this is a very neat District for Southern West Virginia with only a 56 person deviation:

[Kodak]

I really don't like the western NY districts either. You split the Buffalo suburbs between three districts,  divided the Southern tier between different districts, and drew Niagara so that it contains parts of two metro areas. Those borders don't really represent the communities of interest around here very well.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

That is a terrible way to draw West Virginia into 4 Districts.

I split 0 counties and I created compact districts. I also kept the coalfields whole.

It is possible to split 0 counties and create compact districts in this scenario without making them look so ugly.

How can they possibly be seen as ugly?

For starters, this is a very neat District for Southern West Virginia with only a 56 person deviation:

Going with such a district creates a very long district running alongside the eastern part of the state, OR it puts Kanawha and Greenbrier Counties together. Neither is good for compactness/CoI. The way I did it is not ugly - it creates districts that are kind of boxy but that's just one way it can be done. And I quite like the districts the way they are. You still haven't really justified your claim that the map is "ugly".

I really don't like the western NY districts either. You split the Buffalo suburbs between three districts,  divided the Southern tier between different districts, and drew Niagara so that it contains parts of two metro areas. Those borders don't really represent the communities of interest around here very well.

If that's the case, that's because I am trying very hard to avoid county splits, the size of the seats themselves (which are less than 75% of RL CDs, which forces more CoIs to be split), and because the Rochester seat itself is drawn using a natural border. Erie+Niagara is simply too big for 2 districts, so I had to create an obligatory Buffalo-centric seat, an Erie seat, a Rochester seat, and a district combining exurbs/suburbs from both metros.
The geography and population distribution is just too awkward to keep Buffalo suburbs within just two seats, maintain compactness overall, have a reasonable Rochester seat, AND have minimum county splits. I was also hemmed in by the districts drawn in the Hudson Valley, so I had less room than usual to use greater deviation as means to keep CoI together.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Northern Florida:
Pensacola
Panama City
Tallahassee
Gainesville
Jacksonville North
Jacksonville South
St. Augustine
Ocala

In and Around Orlando:
Orlando East
Orlando West-Apopka
Seminole
Volusia
Brevard
Spring Hill-Lake Country
Lakeland

In and Around Tampa:
Pinellas South
Pinellas North
Hillsborough West
Hillsborough North
Hillsborough South
Pasco

Everglades+SW FL+Treasure Coast:
Okechobee-Kissimmee
Sarasota
Cape Coral
Naples
Treasure Coast

Palm Beach+Broward:
Jupiter
Palm Beach South
Okechobee-Parkland
Broward East
Broward South
Broward Central

Miami-Dade:
Key West-Cutler Ridge
Miami-Dade Central
Miami
Miami-Dade North
Miami-Dade West

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Huntsville
Florence
Gadsden
Birmingham
Hoover
Anniston
Tuscaloosa-Selma
Montgomery-Auburn
Dothan-Dauphin
Mobile

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Gary
Notre Dame
Elkhart
Kokomo
Fort Wayne
Muncie
Carmel
Indianapolis West
Indianapolis East
Bloomington
Lafayette-Vigo
Evansville-Wabash
New Albany

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

North Delta-Southaven
South Delta-Vicksburg
Gulf Coast
Hattiesburg-Meridian
Jackson
Tupelo

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Kenosha-Racine
Milwaukee North
Milwaukee South
Waukesha
Manitowoc
Winnebago
Green Bay
Stevens Point
Madison
Dells-Janesville
Eau Claire
Superior-St. Croix

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

381 seats east of the Mississippi
next up: MIMAL

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Twin Cities Metro:
Minneapolis
St. Paul
Bloomington
Dakota
Coon Rapids
Hennipen

Greater Minnesota:
Rochester
Mankato
St. Cloud
Iron Range
Morehead

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Dubuque
Davenport
Waterloo-Ames
Des Moines
Council Bluffs
Sioux City

Oh, and Solid, quick! Check out the deviation on that Des Moines seat.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Dubuque
Davenport
Waterloo-Ames
Des Moines
Council Bluffs
Sioux City

Oh, and Solid, quick! Check out the deviation on that Des Moines seat.

I do not need to use DRA to find it since I have it memorized. It is either + or - 3, but I forget which.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

St. Louis City
St. Louis North
St. Louis South
St. Francois
St. Charles
Jefferson City
Springfield-Ozark
Joplin
Columbia-Clay
St. Joseph
Kansas City North
Kansas City South

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pontcharian
Metairie
Tangipohoa
Acadiana-Houma
Baton Rouge
Monroe-Marksville
Shreveport
Acadiana-Lafayette
Acadiana-Lake Charles

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Fargo
Grand Forks
Bismarck
Minot


Sioux Falls
Brookings
Aberdeen
Rapid City

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Omaha
Lincoln-Offutt
Kearney
Platte