Representing People and Places: Castaway Voters and the Racial Disparity in Redistricting

Abstract

In the congressional district maps in effect from 2012 to 2021, millions of Americans were "castaway"from the largest congressional district in their home county. We show that castaway status was disparately imposed, such that majority-minority census tracts were roughly twice as likely to be castaway relative to majority-white areas. The implications of this disparity are significant given that previous research suggests castaway status has a deleterious effect on basic pillars of representation. This effort to demonstrate who is castaway in the redistricting process augments both scholarly and legal understanding, enhancing our ability to identify individuals whose access to representation may be compromised by gerrymandering, offering a new indicator of gerrymandering, and moving debate beyond the limitations of the ubiquitous collective focus on such matters as how many votes produce how many legislative seats.