How to Draw a Plan with Variable Multimember Districts
Several U.S. states have multimember districts which elect more than one member to districts in a legislative chamber. However, some states take this a step further and have varying amounts of members per district. This type of multimember representation is rare and not without controversy, however, we are able to support this type of redistricting in DistrictBuilder with our new multimember district feature. This feature adjusts the target population deviation per district based on the number of members, therefore making it easier to draw accurate equal population districts.
You can set the multimember criteria on importing or creating a new map. To use multimember districts on a new map, select the state you will be working with and choose the districts you want to map.
Click Use Multi-member Districts to open the district/reps editing rows. You will then see a row for each district and the ability to select the number of reps. As you change the number of reps, the target population for each district will adjust in real-time.
Note that this also works for Custom districts. So you can create your own custom scenario of varying multimember districts for any state in the U.S.
When you create the map, you will see the new target population and deviation accurately reflects the number of members per district you set.
Want to change the map’s multimember district selections after you created the map? You can now change the number of reps per district and even the population deviation threshold using the Map configuration option. Click the ellipsis next to your map name and select Map configuration.
The Map configuration window will open where you can reset the number of reps per district or population deviation tolerance of your map.
Have questions or suggestions for improvements? Contact us today. Happy mapping!
