Replication Data for: Redistricting by Formula: An Ohio Reform Experiment

Replication data for Redistricting by Formula: An Ohio Reform Experiment, American Politics Research, 2017. In the last decade, Ohio reformers have advocated redistricting by formula: selecting the redistricting plan that scores best on a pre-defined objective scoring function that combines prima facie neutral criteria with political goals of plan fairness and district competition. In the post-2010 redistricting these reformers hosted a public competition where prizes were awarded to the best legal plan scored on the reformers’ formula. The submitted plans provide a unique opportunity to evaluate how redistricting by formula may work in practice. Our analysis finds the public yields a broader range of redistricting plans, on indicia of legal and public policy interest, than developed by the state legislature. The Pareto frontier reveals plans that perform better than the legislature’s adopted plan on one and two dimensions, as well as the reformers’ overall scoring function. Our evaluation reveals minimal trade-offs among the components of the overall competition’s scoring criteria, but we caution that the scoring formula may be sensitive to implementation choices among its components. Compared to the legislature’s plan, the reform community can get more of the four criteria they value; importantly, without sacrificing the state’s only African-American opportunity congressional district.

《基于公式的选区重划：俄亥俄州改革试验》（Redistricting by Formula: An Ohio Reform Experiment）的复刻数据集，刊载于《美国政治研究》（American Politics Research）2017年刊。近十年来，俄亥俄州的改革倡导者一直呼吁采用公式化选区重划方案：即通过预先定义的客观评分函数，筛选出兼顾表面中立标准与选区公平、选区竞争等政治目标的最优重划方案。在2010年后的选区重划工作中，这些改革者举办了一场公开赛事，为按照其制定的评分公式选出的最优合法方案颁发奖项。提交的各类方案为评估公式化选区重划的实际落地效果提供了独特的研究契机。我们的分析发现，相较于州议会制定的方案，公开征集到的方案在法律与公共政策关注度相关的指标上，展现出更丰富的选区重划选择空间。帕累托前沿（Pareto frontier）显示，部分提交方案在单维度、双维度指标以及改革者的整体评分函数上，表现均优于州议会最终通过的方案。我们的评估表明，本次赛事评分标准的各组成部分之间几乎不存在显著权衡，但需提醒的是，评分公式可能会因其组成部分的实施细节差异而表现出敏感性。与州议会的方案相比，改革群体能够在四项核心评价指标上取得更优表现；尤为重要的是，这一过程并未牺牲该州仅有的非裔美国人机会型国会选区。