Voting Districts

Intent

To support free and fair elections by promoting fair and stable voting districts. To reduce expenses associated with administering elections. To support election integrity by facilitating transparency and accountability. To support democracy by preventing the influence of election results via redrawing district boundaries, also called gerrymandering.

Proposal

Voting districts are established for the purpose of collecting votes on election day.

Elections administered in a voting district must be supervised by an election supervisor. The election supervisor is responsible for training and authorizing election administrators, paid staff, and volunteers, and recommending changes in equipment or procedures to the local government.

A voting district certifies and publishes the vote tallies for all candidates and ballot questions presented to voters in an election. A voting district does not determine or declare the outcome of an election.

Voting districts must be established by local governments responsible for administering elections. Incorporated towns and cities will establish their own voting districts. Outside of incorporated cities, the local county, province, or administrative region will establish voting districts within its boundaries.

A local government may have a one or more voting districts to administer elections.

The boundary of a geographical voting district may be defined with a geographic boundary on land or water, or with a state road as a boundary, or other land marks, or the boundary of the locality or region, or the border of the state.

A geographical voting district boundary may not cross the local or regional boundary. A geographical voting district boundary may not cross a state or federal border.

A non-geographic voting district may be defined with a category of people who are constituents of the government but have special circumstances such as military or civilian government service assigned to a state or federal duty station, or jobs in transportation where they are routinely traveling, or people who would normally be registered to vote in a geographic voting district but have travel plans that overlap the next election day and will not be voting in person.

Non-geographical voting districts will not be included when measuring the regularity of the geographical district boundaries, when comparing the geographical boundaries of districts, or computing the variance in regularity of the geographical district boundaries.

Voting districts must be drawn with a low variance among districts when measuring the regularity of their shapes. Voting districts must be funded with a low variance among districts when measuring the per-voter budget they will receive to administer elections. Voting districts must be planned with a low variance among districts and among voting stations within the district when measuring the distance between each registered voter’s home address and the nearest voting station in the voting district. Voting districts must be planned with a low variance among districts and among voting stations within the district when measuring the number of voters per voting station. Voting districts must be staffed with a low variance among districts and among voting stations within the district when measuring the number of election administrators per voting station. Voting districts must be equipped with a low variance among districts and among voting stations within the district when measuring the number of voting booths per voting station.

Voting districts do not determine the candidates or ballot questions in an election. A voting district presents the candidates and ballot questions from its locality, region, state, and federation. All the voting districts in the same locality must present the same local candidates and local ballot questions to voters. All the voting districts in the same region must present the same regional candidates and regional ballot questions to voters. All the voting districts in the same state must present the same state candidates and same state ballot questions to voters. All the the voting districts in the same federation must present the same federal candidates and same federal ballot questions to voters.

A new map approved within 6 months of an upcoming election day shall not be effective until the first day following the election.

Any registered voter may challenge the voting district boundaries established by their local government based on their permanent residence. A successful challenge demonstrates that the new boundaries increase the variance among voting districts compared to the old boundaries when measuring the regularity of their shapes.

Any registered voter may challenge the voting district budget established by their local government based on their permanent residence. A successful challenge demonstrates that the new budget increases the variance among voting districts compared to the old budget when measuring the per-voter allocation.

Any registered voter in the district may challenge the placement of voting stations within their district. A successful challenge demonstrates that the placement of voting stations increases the variance of the distance between each registered voter’s home address and the nearest voting station in the voting district and that a suitable alternative location is available which would decrease the variance or decrease the average distance.

Any registered voter in the district may challenge the number of voting stations within their district. A successful challenge demonstrates that the number of voting stations within their district is significantly lower than the average number of voting stations per district for the other districts in the region or the state, with significantly lower being outside of one standard deviation away from the average of the districts in the region or outside of two standard deviations away from the average of all the districts in the state. Alternatively, a successful challenge demonstrates that the number of people per voting station in their district is significantly higher than the average number of people per voting station in other districts in the region or the state, with significantly higher being outside of one standard deviation away from the average of the districts in the region or outside of two standard deviations away from the average of all the districts in the state.

Any registered voter in the district may challenge the staffing of voting stations within their district. A successful challenge demonstrates that the number of administrators per voting station is significantly lower than the average number of administrators per voting station in the region or the state. A successful challenge demonstrates that the number of administrators per voting stations is significantly lower in the district compared to the average number of administrators per voting station in other districts in the region or the state, with significantly lower being outside of one standard deviation away from the average of the districts in the region or outside of two standard deviations away from the average of all the districts in the state.

Any registered voter in the district may challenge the number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station in their district. A successful challenge demonstrates that the number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station is significantly lower than the average number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station in the region or the state. A successful challenge demonstrates that the number of voting booths or voting machines per voting stations is significantly lower in the district compared to the average number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station in other districts in the region or the state, with significantly lower being outside of one standard deviation away from the average of the districts in the region or outside of two standard deviations away from the average of all the districts in the state

If a new voting district map is successfully challenged in court, the remedy is to immediately re-instate the previous map.

In an election for positions in a local or state government, every registered voter within the boundary of the local or state government participates in the same election for the same elected positions. The voting districts do not determine who registered voters can elect.

Definitions

A voting district is the smallest division of people who can participate in elections, including the administrators who collect and count votes and the eligible voters who are registered to vote in that district.

A voting station is a physical location within a voting district where people present their identification or proof of registration in the voting district and cast their ballots.

Variance is a statistical measure of how much a set of data differs from its average. A data set with high variance indicates that values in the data are more spread out from the average. A data set with low variance indicates the values in the data are in general closer to the average.

Equal opportunity factors for voting districts are 1) a low variance among districts when measuring the regularity of their shapes; 2) a low variance among districts when measuring the per-voter budget they will receive to administer elections; 3) a low variance among districts when measuring the distance between each registered voter’s home address and the nearest voting station in the voting district; 4) a low variance among districts when measuring the number of voters per voting station; 5) a low variance among districts when measuring the number of election administrators per voting station; 6) a low variance among districts when measuring the number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station.

A locality in this proposal is an incorporated town, county, or city which is the lowest level of elected government in the area, or the entirety of un-incorporated area in a county or province.

A region in this proposal is a county or province or other administrative region which has two or more localities in it.

A state in this proposal is an independent and self-governing area, which may also be called a country in some cases.

A federation in this proposal is a federation of states, which may also be called a country in some cases, or any higher-level federation such as a federation of countries.

Discussion

Voting districts are established for the purpose of collecting votes on election day. Voting districts must be established by local governments responsible for administering elections. Incorporated towns and cities will establish their own voting districts. Outside of incorporated cities, the local county, province, or administrative region will establish voting districts within its boundaries. This is in contrast to systems in which the voting districts are also linked to specific candidates. For example, in the United States there are “congressional districts” where states are divided into geographic voting districts and each one elects their own representative to the House of Representatives. To fit this proposal into such a system, a state legislature would need to select which group of voting districts together form a “congressional district” such that each of those voting districts would present a corresponding ballot question to its voters about who to elect for that congressional seat.

In a local election, for example for a mayor and city council and sheriff, all the voting districts have the same candidates on the ballot and are used only to collect the votes and send them to the local government offices. Each voting district certifies and publishes its own results, so that everyone in other voting districts can add up the totals themselves and there is no chance for officials or employees in the local government to cheat in elections by changing the numbers. If a local government were to attempt gerrymandering the districts, it wouldn’t affect the results because the tallies would be the same regardless of which district a person casts their vote.

A local government may have a one or more voting districts to administer elections. This proposal does not include a minimum or maximum size of a voting district.

Voting districts do not need to be of equal size or population. As a part of this proposal, the size and population of a voting district will not affect the outcome of an election. Not mandating equal size and population gives flexibility to local governments in establishing voting districts that make sense for effective, efficient, and fair administration of elections.

Each state should enact its own law if needed to set minimum or maximum geographic or population size of voting districts in that state. The local government is responsible for creating voting districts or managing their boundaries in a way that meets the requirements in this proposal and any applicable state law.

Voting districts must be established by local governments responsible for administering elections. Incorporated towns and cities will establish their own voting districts. Outside of incorporated cities, the local county, province, or administrative region will establish voting districts within its boundaries. This prevents the possibility of a state legislature implementing a gerrymander. The state legislature can change county or province boundaries but these boundaries generally follow geography and changes must be coordinated with local police, utilities, the post office, national address databases, and more and due to this they are rarely changed and are generally non-partisan in nature.

Voting districts must be drawn with a low variance among districts when measuring the distance between each registered voter’s home address and the nearest voting station. This can be done using bands of equal-width concentric discs around each voting station. As more bands are drawn outward from a voting station, they will eventually overlap with bands drawn outward from another voting station. To divide these outer regions evenly, a line can be drawn from one voting station to the other, and then a second line intersecting this inter-station line and orthogonal to it can be drawn and used to determine where to put the boundary between the bands for the two voting stations, such that residences on each side of the line are uniformly closer to the same voting station. The bands should be of equal width using sizes that are sensible for the voting district such as 1km, 2km, 3km, etc. in urban areas or 10km, 20km, 30km, etc. in rural areas. The bands are only a tool for checking placement of voting stations. The width of the band refers to the distance between the inner and outer radius of the band. The measurement refers to the registered voter’s home address and not the bands so that the burden of actual voters will be considered, and not distance from any other homes that won’t be participating in the election such as abandoned houses and empty lots. A low variance among districts when measuring the distance between each voter’s home address and the nearest voting station means that a rural county or province can establish its voting districts fairly and a large city can establish its voting districts fairly, while the two separate local governments are not compared to each other since they each have their own districts.

Voting districts must be funded with a low variance among districts when measuring the per-voter budget they will receive to administer elections. This gives flexibility to local governments to apply their election administration budget in a way that makes sense and is fair across voting districts, accounting for their variations in size and population. A district with more people in it will need more voting stations and staff than a district with less people in it. The per-voter budget is a per-capita comparison that considers only the number of registered voters in each district. Because the district boundaries are not expected to change as frequently as the population, it’s more effective to assign a budget each year based on the number of registered voters present in each district six months before the election day, when the voting district boundaries are locked in. It also means there must be at least one registered voter per voting district because if a district has no voters than the per-voter budget cannot be determined (division by zero) and therefore cannot be compared with other voting districts and therefore would be in violation of this rule.

Voting districts must be planned with a low variance among districts when measuring the number of voters per voting station. This gives flexibility to local governments when determining the number and location of voting stations in a way that best serves the voters. Voting districts of varying size and population can have a different number of voting stations, but must have a similar number of voters per voting station. This means more voting stations in more populated areas. It also means there must be at least one voting station per district because if a district has no voting stations the number of voters per voting station cannot be determined (division by zero) and therefore cannot be compared with other voting districts and therefore would be in violation of this rule.

Voting districts must be staffed with a low variance among districts when measuring the number of election administrators per voting station. This ensures a fair administration of elections so that no voting district is significantly understaffed and therefore the voters are significantly disadvantaged compared to the other voting districts. This is important because while the number of voting stations per voting district may be similar, if the local government does not staff them similarly it may affect the ability of voters in that district to cast their votes.

Voting districts must be equipped with a low variance among districts when measuring the number of voting booths or voting machines per voting station. This ensures a fair administration of elections so that no voting district is significantly under-equipped in comparison with the other districts. This is because even if the voting stations are similarly staffed but some are under-equipped it may affect the ability of voters in that district to cast their votes.

A new map approved within 6 months of an election day shall not be effective until the first day following the election. When a local government establishes its voting districts, or makes any changes to them, the effective date of the change must be early enough before the election to allow time for legal challenges to be filed and resolved. It must also be enough time before the election so that people administering elections have the assurance that whatever map they have 6 months before the election is “locked in” and they can make their plans and administer the election without a surprise change in the map.

Voting districts affect the ability of voters to cast their votes on election day and all constituents of the same local government are affected by the outcome of the election. Therefore any voter may bring a challenge to the voting districts established by their local government.

If a new voting district map is successfully challenged in court, the remedy is to immediately re-instate the previous map. This prevents a legislature from attempting to gerrymander districts and when they lose in court simply to provide another gerrymandered map and invite another challenge. The legislature can attempt to draw a new map but it would be an entirely new effort with its own timeline completely separate from the prior effort and challenge.

Note that this proposal does not mandate that state allow business or leisure travelers to vote remotely, only that if they do it must be via a special non-geographic voting district so that regular geographic voting district staff only have to manage people who are voting in person and not any special circumstances.

Comparison with the United States

A voting precinct is a term used to refer to areas where people cast their votes. Generally, votes cast in a voting precinct are transported to local government offices for counting. In contrast, a voting district in this proposal would also count and publish the vote tallies for each candidate and ballot question. The government would then add up the tallies from each voting district and certify the outcome of the election. Independent observers would be able to confirm the outcome by adding up the published tallies from all voting districts.

In the United States, voting districts are used to partition the land into areas containing approximately the same number of people who then vote for a single candidate who then represents them. This sounds like a good idea, but in the United States this has led to widespread corruption called gerrymandering where the people in charge of drawing the map for these voting districts rig the map to help themselves or their party win future elections by slicing up areas that tend to vote for the other party and making them into minorities in adjoining areas. Another consequence of the one representative per district system is that a an elected representative who won 51% of the vote then represents barely over half of their home district when they vote in the legislature. A related proposal for representation in the legislature addresses this problem.

To ensure the integrity of elections, voting districts should only facilitate where and how people vote — not who they vote for — and it should not be possible to change the election results by redrawing the voting district map. Instead of voting districts selecting a a representative for that district, voting districts should be only a mechanism for collecting and tabulating the local vote and sending it on to the next higher level of government.

See also Algorithm for district boundaries.

Related topics

* Voter Eligibility
* Voter Registration
* Gerrymandering
* Algorithm for district boundaries