• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Redistricting>
  3. gerrymandering>

Citizen mapmakers honored for creative, but unofficial, redistricting efforts

Sara Swann
August 06, 2021
Awards
efetova/Getty Images

With redistricting season about to kick off and more states engaging everyday citizens in the process, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project staged its own effort to broaden the role of citizen mapmakers. This week, the group celebrated the winners of the Great American Map-Off.

The competition sought to raise awareness about partisan gerrymandering ahead of states redrawing election maps later this year, following the release of updated population data from the Census Bureau.

The contest challenged members of the public to create congressional maps for any of seven key states: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Participants used free online mapping tools to submit maps in one or all of the following categories: partisan fairness, stealth gerrymander, competition and communities of interest.


"In some cases, entrants had only rudimentary mapping experience, but had substantial familiarity with local communities, underscoring the importance of public engagement within the mapping process and any public input periods following the upcoming release of redistricting maps," said Hannah Wheelen, data and technology lead for the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

After considering more than a hundred entries, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project chose the following seven winners.

Nathaniel Fischer of Durham, N.C., was named the overall winner for the map of his home state that skillfully incorporated communities of interest. As the first place winner, Fischer took home the grand prize: an iPad.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Peter Haywood, a recent high school graduate from New York City, was awarded the best communities of interest map for his "impressively compact map of New York state districts incorporating his detailed knowledge of regions and communities."

A student team taking Josina Dunkel's AP Human Geography course at Stuyvesant High School in New York City won the best stealth gerrymandering category for their map of Ohio. This category was designed to test how maps could be gerrymandered in a way that was not visible to casual observers. The students' map managed to achieve majority representation for a minority party, while still maintaining compactness and adhering to county boundaries.

Two winners were named for the best competitiveness category: KennethKellett, a recent graduate of the University of Central Florida, and SilasDomy, who works as a research and development coordinator for the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine. Both winners created two maps of Florida each focused on competitiveness and incumbency.

Two winners were also named for the best partisan fairness category: Isak Dai, a first-year student at Georgetown University, and Dinos Gonatas, a Princeton alumnus who consults in the energy sector and works on redistricting algorithms in his free time. Dai created a map of Colorado and Gonatas designed one for Wisconsin.

In addition to these winners, 75 participants' maps were considered of high enough technical caliber to be admitted into the Princeton Gerrymandering Project's MapCorps. These new members will consult and design maps with the team at Princeton.

Of the seven states highlighted in the competition, Colorado is the only one that will use an independent redistricting commission to redraw its maps this year.

Republicans will be in control of the mapmaking process in Florida and North Carolina. (North Carolina's Democratic governor does not have the power to veto maps.)

Although New York has an advisory commission to propose redistricting maps, the Democratic-majority Legislature can make changes if it first vetoes two drafts. Democrats will also have the advantage over redistricting in Illinois.

The GOP-majority Legislature in Ohio must pass a plan with bipartisan support. If it fails to do so, a commission consisting of the governor, secretary of state, state auditor and four appointees will take over.

If Wisconsin's Democratic governor and GOP-led Legislature fail to strike a bipartisan agreement, the state's maps will likely be drawn by the courts.

Next week, the Census Bureau is expected to release the population data states need to begin the redistricting process. The final set of data will become available in late September — much later than usual due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

From Your Site Articles
  • In most states, the redistricting rules remain the same - The Fulcrum ›
  • States grapple with compressed redistricting timelines - The Fulcrum ›
  • Redistricting lawsuits seek to get ahead of partisan fights - The ... ›
  • Redistricting competition calls for public map submissions - The ... ›
  • Ill. Democrats hit for rushing partisan redistricting plan - The Fulcrum ›
  • Ohio Supreme Court overturns partisan district maps - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • How The Delayed Census Has Affected Redistricting | FiveThirtyEight ›
  • GOP has edge in redistricting as fewer state governments are ... ›
  • Redistricting Is Around The Corner, And Youth Are Getting Involved ... ›
  • How the battle over redistricting in 2021 could decide control of the ... ›
gerrymandering

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Texas leads the way

Lawrence Goldstone

Why the Founders would be aghast at the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

Beau Breslin

Risks and rewards in a polarized nation: Businesses face tough choices after Roe v. Wade ruling

Richard Davies

The economic blame game, part 1: Blame your opponents

David L. Nevins

How a college freshman led the effort to honor titans of democracy reform

Jeremy Garson

Our poisonous age of absolutism

Jay Paterno
latest News

Coalition aims to recruit 100K veterans and military families to staff 2022 elections

David Meyers
10h

Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Our Staff
10h

Wait, what? Democrats are also funding election deniers?

Damon Effingham
13h

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Our Staff
15h

Busy day ahead with primaries or runoffs in seven states

Richard Perrins
Reya Kumar
Kristin Shiuey
27 June

The state of voting: June 27, 2022

Our Staff
27 June
Videos

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Retired Army Gen. George Casey

Coalition aims to recruit 100K veterans and military families to staff 2022 elections

Leadership
Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Elections
Doug Mastriano

Wait, what? Democrats are also funding election deniers?

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Leadership
U.S. and Texas flags fly over the Texas Capitol

Texas leads the way

State
Founding Father John Dickinson

Why the Founders would be aghast at the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

Judicial