The impact of the 1980 reapportionment in the United States

Optimal partisan gerrymandering

“…To show how this might be done, we provide an illustration using data on the California congressional plan drawn up in 1981 under the direction of the late Congressman Philip Burton. This plan is widely recognized by political scientists to be the most dramatic congressional political gerrymander of the 1980s (see, for example, Robertson, 1983;Gopoian and West, 1985;Schwab, 1985). In our empirical analysis, we draw heavily on the work of Cain (1985) and Grofman (1985b).…”

Small schools and the pressure to consolidate.

“…Rural and small-town communities perhaps feel the pressure for consolidation most acutely, particularly those with vulnerable economies and limited political leverage (e.g., Dayton, 1998;DeYoung, 1993;Peshkin, 1982). Moreover, with the power of rural caucuses diminishing in state and national politics, the interests of rural citizens-including their interest in retaining community schoolsincreasingly yield to those of urban and suburban constituencies to whom rural fates are irrelevant (e.g., Eyre & Finn, 2002;Nachtigal, 1994;Schwab, 1985). Support for extant small schools and districts is also not strong among many education bureaucrats, as evidenced by the official stance taken by state education agencies in places such as Arkansas and West Virginia (Eyre & Finn, 2002;Rural School andCommunity Trust, 2002, 2003).…”

Affirmative Districting and Four Decades of Redistricting: The Seats/Votes Relationship 1972-2008

“…For the 1971 redistricting cycle see Glazer, Grofman, and Robbins (1987), Erikson (1972), Grofman and others (1982), and Squire (1985). The 1981 redistricting is covered by Squire (1995), Campagna and Grofman (1990), King and Browning (1987), Morrill (1990), Ostdiek (1995), Bullock (1982), Abramowitz (1983), Schwab (1985), Grofman (1982a), Ayres and Whiteman (1984), and all of Volume 1, Number 4 of Political Geography Quarterly (Taylor 1982). Cannon (1999a,b); Grofman and Handley (1998); Lublin and Voss (1998); McDonald (2004); Niemi and Abramowitz (1994); Swain, Borrelli, and Reed (1998); Karlan (1998); and Hill (1995) all studied the 1991 cycle.…”