Solving electoral map bias is focus of Huskies Showcase presenter

Jessica Craig’s focus on using geography to solve issues with electoral map bias earned her recognition in this year’s Huskies Showcase with a winning reflection and a finalist designation in the oral presentation category. 

Huskies Showcase is being presented virtually on a volunteer basis for students, faculty and staff to interact with the projects on D2L Brightspace. Finalists and Husky Compact dimension winners were named this April. No awards will be presented for oral or poster presentation beyond finalist designations due to limitations of the virtual format. 

Craig, of Crystal Lake, Illinois, won the award for Best Our Husky Compact Reflection in the Act with Personal Integrity and Civic Responsibility dimension for her presentation “Towards a Less Divided Government: Solving the Problem of Uncompetitive Electoral Districts Through Geography”. Her faculty mentor is Gareth John. Craig was also named a finalist for her research in oral presentation for the dimension of the year: Seek and Apply Knowledge. 

The dimensions come from Our Husky Compact. The six dimensions embody the essential and cross-cutting attributes of a St. Cloud State University education. These attributes are developed over time and across and beyond the curriculum.  

Presentation Abstract: 

150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln stated that, ‘elections belong to the people.’ What a timely reminder for us, the people, as the nation heads into a census year among political division and turmoil. How can we make US politics less divisive? It begins with process. Partisan gerrymandering, or electoral map bias, is the result of political parties carving out safe districts for themselves and the topic of electoral map bias is perhaps more relevant now than ever. As census results are released to each state in early 2021, many legislatures across the country will redraw the maps. Through comparative analysis and other research methods, I aim to make the case for why electoral map bias hurts democracy and why non-partisan redistricting commissions may be the only way to bring us back together again.

Reflection: 

Towards a Less Divided Politics: solving the problem of electoral map bias through geography, has been a project that began out of a desire to make a difference in my field of study. Overcoming the current political division is understood to be in the country’s best interests and I wanted to find a tangible way in which this could be achieved.

Through examination of the current political process governing redistricting in Minnesota and research into alternative processes in other states, my project identifies areas of weakness in our system and suggests ways to possibly improve outcomes. Seeking and applying knowledge, a key goal area of Our Husky Compact, has been a driving factor for this work.

There is a deep relationship between Geography and Politics; more so than just a surface connection. Lines drawn on maps determine election outcomes far more than we realize. While populations within those boundaries may differ in their views and experience life differently, they nevertheless coexist within very specific local or regional boundaries.

Indeed, there is often much more that ties us together, and yet we are becoming increasingly divided along political lines. It is imperative, therefore, that in an increasingly globalized and connected society that we work to understand these real-and-perceived differences and seek to overcome them in order to improve the quality of political dialogue and set about solving commonly recognized social issues.

U.S. citizens who live in an uncompetitive electoral districts (those in which the outcome is practically guaranteed) may not engage in voting because they feel their vote will not count. Furthermore, and most critically, politicians seeking reelection in those uncompetitive electoral districts are also not incentivized to seek compromise through bi-partisanship which further fosters a growing gulf in political opinion and legislative policy at the state level. It is the thesis of this research that such political division across states, including Minnesota, has its roots in partisan redistricting processes by which district boundaries are redrawn by elected state legislatures rather than independent commissions.

And just as geography is the source of the issue, it is also the solution. At St. Cloud State, I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to learning database mapping applications such as ESRI’s ARC-GIS which allows for the analysis and presentation of geographic data in a highly visual way. This application combined with courses in political geography and political science have been synthesized and applied through my research with the goal that it might make a real difference in policy at the state level in the future.

Attending regional conferences, such as the meeting of the West Lakes Division of American Association of Geographers (AAG) in Iowa in October 2019, helped to guide my understanding of global and regional political issues and network with fellow students with similar interests. Consistent with Our Husky Compact goal of acting with civic responsibility and personal integrity, I also have an opportunity to present a poster on my research at the Posters in St. Paul event at the Capitol on February 28 and a paper at annual meeting of the AAG in Denver, Colorado in April, 2020.

I see these opportunities as taking a significant step in developing my leadership potential, an opportunity I don’t think that I would’ve otherwise had without the help of the University faculty mentorship. This footprint for civic responsibility has been fundamental for my growth outside of the classroom as well. It is through education at St Cloud State University that I have found my passion for making a difference in the world. My research project has helped me to dive deeper into the world of local, state and national politics and pair it with my major in geography in a deep and meaningful way.