Congressional districting using a TSP-based genetic algorithm

Authors:
Sean L. Forman;Yading Yue
Affiliations:
Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA;Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA
Venue:
GECCO'03 Proceedings of the 2003 international conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation: PartII
Year:
2003

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Abstract

The drawing of congressional districts by legislative bodies in the United States creates a great deal of controversy each decade as political parties and special interest groups attempt to divide states into districts beneficial to their candidates. The genetic algorithm presented in this paper attempts to find a set of compact and contiguous congressional districts of approximately equal population. This genetic algorithm utilizes a technique based on an encoding and genetic operators used to solveTraveling Salesman Problems (TSP). This encoding forces near equality of district population and uses the fitness function to promote district contiguity and compactness.A post-processing step further refines district population equality. Results are provided for three states (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Iowa) using 2000 census data.