Well, you might now after looking at this. FHQ has found just the site to help you while away the time until the census is complete next year: RedistricingTheNation.com.
It is one thing to say you are from the 5th district of North Carolina, but quite another to see your district on the map and how it stacks up on the various measures of compactness compared to other districts. (Remember the rules of redistricting: compactness, contiguity, etc.) For instance, NC-5 borders the infamous NC-12 that, before the courts got a hold of it, stretched all the way from Gaston County (FHQ's home turf), just west of Charlotte, to Durham. And for those who haven't memorized a North Carolina map, that's from the western end of the state all the way to the eastern end. At one point (Again, before the state was forced to redraw the lines.), the district traveled up I-85 and was only as wide as the interstate itself (mind you, where there weren't any houses) in several spots. Even the redrawn district that survives to this day is among the top ten in terms of least compact districts (by all four different measures).
How does your district stack up? NC-5 is a middle of the road district for compactness.
Oh, and if that isn't enough, you can look at state legislative districts and local ones as well. And you can even see who is tasked with drawing the new lines. My classes on redistricting won't be the same.
Hat tip to Joshua Tucker at The Monkey Cage for the link.
A link to this site will be added to the right sidebar section called Data and Other Resources.
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