So Utah gains a seat, having no clue about Utah Politics I decided to make a district as ridiculously large as possible while keeping the deviation of population as low as possible. I knew that most of the population in Utah was around Salt Lake City and the Provo area, but I had no idea it was that concentrated.
CD-01: Blue deviates from the average district population with +7
CD-02: Green deviates the least from the district average with -6 people
CD-03: Purple deviates the most from the district average which is -26 people
CD-04: I admit that the Red district is packed with people to make it larger. +25 people from the district average :p
I think CD-04 may be geographically one of the largest not-at-large districts
THE biggest non at large district. That district has to be a good deal bigger than NV-02
The Republican state legislature would never draw a map like this. It would give Matheson a district that voted for Obama and the republicans in the past have said that all districts should have some urban and rural areas. I think thats just their excuse to make Mathesons district (which was based entirely inside Salt Lake County when he was first elected in 2000) as republican as possible. There is an effort to get an independent redistricting commission initiative on the 2010 ballot. If that passes I could see a independent commission drawing a map like this since it is best way to maintain communities of intrest. In 2006 when it looked like the DC vote bill might pass and Utah drew a 4 district map the Democrats proposed a map similar to this but with the republicans holding big margins in the state legislature it didnt go anywhere.
this is hilarious.
I’ll bet the blue 1st district is deavily democratic and would elect a liberal like Rocky Anderson.