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275
A teenager redrew the Alabama voting map – and it’s now state law (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 4 months ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Earlier this month, after years of litigation, a federal judge in Alabama ordered a new state senate map. In a surprising decision, the map she chose wasn’t one drafted by a court-appointed special master and his expert cartographer, but rather one that had been submitted by an anonymous member of the public, known only by their initials, “DD”.

The decision stunned “DD” – an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama named Daniel DiDonato – who learned his map had been selected as he was preparing to leave for his 9.30am introduction to political science class.

“I was absolutely surprised,” he said in an interview. “N​​ow, nearly 300,000 Alabamians will be voting under new district lines that I drew up at two in the morning in a dorm, a cramped dorm study room.”

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 101 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Kind of burying the lede, but really glad you posted this:

The widespread availability of political data tools has created an online community – Election Twitter – where political, data and mapmaking junkies will create and share maps and forecasts. DiDonato said he “definitely” considered himself a member.

“You have a whole bunch of these kids who are snippy and savvy and know about the Voting Rights Act, Section 2 of the VRA,” said Chaz Nuttycombe, 26, who developed an impressive record forecasting state legislative races while a student at Virginia Tech and has since founded State Navigate, a non-profit focused on state legislatures. “I’ve seen maps put together by special masters that I disagree with, and I’ve seen kids on Election Twitter put forward better maps for equivalent states and districts than those special masters.”

He used a free online software, Dave’s Redistricting App, to draw the lines. He had begun playing around with it about a year ago, amid a budding fascination with redistricting. As he drew the maps late into the night fueled by soda but no caffeine, he turned off racial and partisan data, seeking to ensure that the new districts he drew were equal in population and made as few changes as possible to the one Republicans had adopted.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

made as few changes as possible to the one Republicans had adopted.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As I said in another comment, even small changes could have a huge impact. I would like to know how the racism was changed or stayed the same.

[–] girsaysdoom@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It sounds like they just turned off the population by race indicators. So, while it may have been drawn with respect to just population density, that still doesn't mean that it's not discriminatory.

This is ignorant at best and exactly what these racists were wanting at worst.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago

that still doesn’t mean that it’s not discriminatory

It doesn't mean it is though either. I was hoping someone who knows more about this stuff could check.

[–] Cris_Color@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

That's fucking rad as hell

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 72 points 4 months ago (1 children)

While it would be better if his map had resulted in even stronger Black representation, he appears to have been the only one who followed the assignment, which was to remedy the original racism with the fewest changes to the districts. And he paid attention to proportions so that a voter in any district has an equal fraction of representation.

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, you gotta be careful not to overcorrect. Thanks for pointing that out. Using the same tools to ensure neutrality (good) instead of biasing the vote to the other extreme (bad) is a pleasant surprise in of itself. But that this is the map they selected? Mind blown.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 49 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Alternate story: Trump judge said the previous lines were too egregious to be legal, but then chose the most conservative map presented by the Special Master.

The kid based his map on the racially gerrymandered map and turned off racial considerations in the redesign. The map minimally tweaked a racial gerrymander, but because he didn't use racism in his tweak he thinks it's not racially gerrymandered. Garbage in, garbage out.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Did anyone check it for racism after it was done? He said he took the existing republican map and made as little changes as possible, but went* off population. It could have turned out okay? If you grab someone from "cross the tracks," he would grab from that. I don't know if it worked out that way, but I'd like to know myself.

[–] halloween_spookster@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

... one that had been submitted by an anonymous member of the public, known only by their initials, “DD”.

The decision stunned “DD” – an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama named Daniel DiDonato ...

"Anonymous"?

[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Should have said it was submitted anonymously.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Should be "formerly unknown"

[–] massacre@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Formerly known as anonymous?

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

The hacker ?

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Great job DD!