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Oklahoma historical congressional district maps

I've been watching politics for a very long time, going back to my childhood, so it's funny to observe the media's new-found concern about gerrymandering -- the practice of manipulating election district boundaries to benefit one party over another. The media's concern seems to have emerged with the growing dominance...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 16, 2016 3:18 PM

Gerrymandering in the animal kingdom

A whimsical, but nonetheless sophisticated, explanation of gerrymandering, including the flaws with several approaches to reform. It's a useful guide to what happened in Oklahoma with the legislature under Democrat control in the past and happened again this year under the Republicans, complete with weaselly consultant. Watch the right side...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 21, 2011 12:20 AM

Oklahoma Senate redistricting: Five senators carved out of their districts

The Oklahoma Senate redistricting plan, drawn up by political consultant Karl Ahlgren, will move five incumbent state senators -- two Democrats and three Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- out of their own districts, according to a BatesLine analysis of the new boundaries. A BatesLine geocommons...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 13, 2011 11:24 AM

Oklahoma House, Senate redistricting plans online

The proposed boundaries for the new Oklahoma State House districts have been online since Friday, but the maps lacked any street detail that could be used as a point of reference. In response to my request, the Speaker's Office sent me the GIS data and a data table assigning each...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 12, 2011 12:04 AM

Map monsters: "Gerrymandering 101"

"Zombie," a blogger known for documenting through photographs the nauseating obscenity of festivals and protests in the Bay Area, is documenting a political and geographical form of obscenity: The gerrymander, the deliberate drawing of district lines for political advantage. The first of two recent posts -- Gerrymandering 101 -- explains...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 14, 2010 12:12 AM