Book Description
Intended for geography students, professors, and researchers, this publication deals with the process of political redistricting and shows how geographers can help devise plans that are responsible to office-holders, to voters, to legitimate community interests, and to a sense of territorial integrity. There are eight chapters. Chapter 1 examines the territorial basis of redistricting. Chapter 2, focusing on redistricting in the United States, discusses malapportionment and gerrymandering. The third chapter looks at criteria for redistricting, discussing constitutional, geographic, political-geographic, and political criteria. Electoral reform is the focus of chapter 4. Redistricting methods are examined in chapter 5. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with redistricting in the Mississippi legislature and in the State of Washington, respectively. The concluding chapter emphasizes the importance of a sense of community in the drawing of electoral districts. A bibliography is provided. (RM)
