Taming the Gerrymander—Statistical physics approach to Political Districting Problem

Chung-I Chou and S.P. Li

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2006, vol. 369, issue 2, 799-808

Abstract: The Political Districting Problem is mapped to a q-state Potts model in which the constraints can be written as interactions between sites or external fields acting on the system. Districting into q voter districts is equivalent to finding the ground state of this q-state Potts model. We illustrate this by districting Taipei city in its 2008 Legislature Election. Statistical properties of the model are also studied.

Keywords: Gerrymander; Potts model; Districting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:369:y:2006:i:2:p:799-808

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2006.01.082

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