The shapes in the image above are real legislative district boundaries. Gerrymandering, as described in the last edition of the Azavea Journal, is all about drawing electoral districts for political gain. Gerrymandering has largely gone without any official definition or measurement, more closely following the principle of “I know it when I see it.”  While no standards work without exception, Azavea has used the geography of the legislative districts to calculate the level of gerrymandering across the US. Based on the local and federal districts stored in our Cicero Elected Official Lookup Service, we have created a list of the most gerrymandered districts in the US. To learn more about gerrymandering and to see the list, read our new Gerrymandering white paper.

Our white paper on Gerrymandering is making its rounds in the local and internet media! Read the article The Philadelphia Inquirer published on 11/02/06 on the front page of the Local section, based on our white paper.

The winner of last edition’s contest was Emily Kahoe of The Reinvestment Fund, who correctly identified the pictured city as Philadelphia (which has two districts among the top three most gerrymandered).