We the people

9 responses so far ↓

• 1    Kelley Stark // Mar 25, 2008 at 1:21 pm

  The game–

  Although before this game I did not really understand how difficult re-districting can be, or how many laws have been passed to make people jobs harder. I found it really frustrating when population laws came into play after I had completed the other objectives. It is simple to follow one or two rules but when you have multiple objectives, each having their own set of rules, to say the least, it gets complicated. I have a new respect for people who do the re-districting and I would advise anyone to play this game; it can be very entertaining as an alternative to facebook.

• 2    Kacey Prewitt // Mar 26, 2008 at 8:30 pm

  I was not expecting this level of intensity. The poor souls who draw districts in real life have my deepest sympathy and greatest respect. I literally have been doing this for over an hour, and im still frustrated. I had no idea how hard it was to create compact, racially and populationally balanced, party-friendly districts with out deeply offending someone. Now i do, and i have stricken re-districter off my list of possible career choices. I have also now crossed off district representative and spelling bee giver person, as i have probably spelled several things incorrectly in just this short period of time.
  And as far as this re-districting goes, cant everybody just get along? It would make life so much easier on several levels.
  The game was entertaining. To give you an idea of how entertaining i will just say i paused “My Name is Earl” to better concentrate on obtaining population equality in Flora Child’s district.

• 3    Erin Framel // Mar 26, 2008 at 9:16 pm

  I played the redistricting game which was enjoyable at first but grew increasingly more frustrating. In the first round when I only had to even the population, achieving the goal was simple. I had fun in the first two missions because the task was simple and achievable. As the game progressed, it became harder and harder to achieve the goals of my party(ex: a Democratic majority) while still maintaining an equal population. I eventually got to a point when I was unable to solve the mapping missions.
  This game gave me a new perspective in to the difficulties of redistricting. I always thought that it was as simple as moving a few lines to redistrict but I never realized how much work and how many rules factor in. I also never thought that after all that work, one still has to get it approved. This game was interesting, informative, and mildly entertaining (until it got impossible).

• 4    Laura Giles // Mar 26, 2008 at 10:33 pm

  At first I found this game rather amusing, In round one, with only the objective to assign each district a certain population, it was easy and interesting. It showed the process of approving redistricting and judged my job at it. Then, when trying round two, I was given two objectives: to make sure my party is the majority as well as to keep the districts within a population limit. This was the point when the game ceased to be amusing. With only these two requirements I found that I could never adjust everything correctly while pleasing the representatives, so I eventually gave up (sorry, Mrs. Phelps…) I learned that redistricting is no easy task, it’s in fact very complicated, and there are countless requirements and people to placate. It takes some very tricky strategies. I’m sure redistricting in the real world is a very difficult and even more frustrating game to play. I hope these people are well paid.

• 5    Melissa Brightwell // Mar 27, 2008 at 12:22 am

  I agree that the redistricting game was frustrating trying to keep the populations all equal and follow all the redistricting laws and everything. But, I found that it is worth the trouble, because after all of my hard work my party ended up winning the election everytime, just because of my excellent redistricting skills. So, redistricting can have a big effect on the outcome of elections if you put a high percentage of one party in the majority of the districts.
  yayy redistricting games. that was almost as fun as the scavenger hunt!

• 6    Kyle Perkins // Mar 27, 2008 at 1:28 am

  The redistricting game taught me many things about our government and the issue of redistricting. The game consists of a broad range of redistricting from establishing gerrymanders in a party’s favor to ensuring minority representation. This game showed me how tough redistricting can be for the government because it involves so many factors that governments must consider when they draw the lines for districts. For example, the government has to ensure a Republican majority while having a 65% Cuban ethnicity in a district AND maintaining a population of 640,000 – 650,000 people in each district. It is a very strategic game considering that someone may feel as if they accomplished everything but then forget about the population range. I recommend people to play this game not just to have fun, but also to learn about redistricting and how it relates to our government.

• 7    Hannah Kight // Mar 27, 2008 at 7:54 pm

  So there are several “missions” and after the first one, which was only to evenly distribute the population, I was like “what’s so hard about this?” But then when you start to add in other factors, it definitely gets more complicated. I would have the right percentage of Democrats or Republicans, but then my populations wouldn’t be even. In the partisan gerrymander mission, I had everything perfect, but then there was this one little square hiding behind a person, and so my plan wouldn’t be passed because of the “contiguity laws.” So I went back in and did the entire thing again…. only to be denied again because of “contiguity laws.” Then I figured out it was because one little square was out of place. But now I know that the contiguity laws making sure a district is all in one place, not random patches everywhere. I found the bipartisan gerrymander to be much easier, but I guess that’s what compromise and working together will do. When I got to the voting rights Act, I did the whole thing but was denied by the compactness laws, which I think are because my district snaked all over the place. Then my window closed, and when I tried to go back I would’ve had to start from the beginning… no thanks.
  But I learned that it can be a lot harder than it looks to make people happy with the districts. I found myself talking to the incumbent people telling them I’d somehow get it done…

• 8    Lauren McEntire // Apr 3, 2008 at 10:00 pm

  The redistricting game was more difficult than I thought. The hardest part I found was trying to get a Republican majority in each of the districts while maintaining population equilibrium. It was also difficult because even if the districts were equal in size it did not necessarily mean that they were equal in population.

• 9    Lauren McEntire // Apr 3, 2008 at 10:04 pm

  The redistricting game was harder than I expected. The hardest part I thought was creating a Republican majority in each of the districts while maintaining population equilibrium. Also I found it difficult because even if the districts were equal in size it did not necessarily mean that their populations were necessarily the same.

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