Playing a game with changing rules: geography, politics and redistricting in the 1990s

The 1990s round of redistricting in the United States has produced an historic level of controversy and litigation. What are the origins of this controversy and confusion? Are there means by which the next round of redistricting might avoid some of these problems? The purpose of this paper is to examine these questions. Examples are employed from the redistricting experience of Alabama, a state not known for resolving political disputes in a timely and diplomatic fashion. Among those issues considered are racial equity, equal population, and compactness concerns. It is concluded that more explicit redistricting guidelines in tandem with a system of region-based cumulative voting would significantly reduce the controversy in the next round of redistricting.