How to use Dave’s Redistricting Website Application Go to https://davesredistricting.org/maps#home Dave's Redistricting is a team of volunteers with a shared passion for technology and democracy. Our mission is to empower civic organizations and citizen activists to advocate for fair congressional and legislative districts and increased transparency in the redistricting process. DRA 2020 is a free web app to create, view, analyze and share redistricting maps for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. DRA 2020 includes demographic data from the 2010 census and 2020 Census and extensive election data. Official congressional and legislative district maps are included and can be used to start new maps, or you can create maps from scratch. A comprehensive feature set makes it easy to create and modify maps while keeping them within the accepted parameters. DRA 2020 also includes a rich set of analytics, including measures of proportionality, competitiveness, minority representation, compactness and splitting.
Press Sign Up Button Enter your personal email and create password for this app Once you have created your account all your maps will be saved in your library
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Click on New Map on the Left Hand Side Enter a Name for your Map Select Texas for the State The Plan Type is Other Restrict To – Select City and El Paso Put in 8 in the District Count Click on the Districts have Equal Populations
1) Now label your districts as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or City Rep 1, City Rep2, etc. or Rep 1, Rep 2, etc. 2) By clicking on the color, a color chart will appear and you can select the color you want. 3) When you are finished, click on APPLY BUTTON.
You color the precinct by using the paint brush. As you color you are adding that precinct to that district.
1) This is now your map to color in the precincts you want to assign to each district. 2) The lines you see on the map are the current precinct lines 3) You see your district information on the top left of the screen
We suggest you to click on all these options on your maps. On your map you can see the precinct numbers. This is done by clicking on the Labels button with the triangle and clicking on the Name. The other labels boxes will display your labels for your districts. Once you have a district, a solid black line will cover the district.
Click the Apply Button to start working on our map
The goal is to get as close to the target population of 84,852 in each district. The way the precincts are configured, it is a challenging task. Your goal, at the very least, is to assign all the precincts to districts so that each district has about the same population, and to make sure each district is contiguous (all precincts are connected).
District Rep 1 Rep 2 Rep 3 Rep 4 Rep 5 Rep 6 Rep 7 Rep 8
Pop 93,909 70,824 80,355 91,499 118,283 79,511 70,621, 73,913
Deviation Compactness
Over/Under -8,951 14,028 4,498 -6,647 -33,431 5,341 14,231 10,939
56.17% Low (38%)
If you want to see your map’s deviation, if it is contiguous and its demographics, all you have to do is click on the Statistics button. It is the one with the table or spreadsheet icon. Look at the arrow pointing to it. When you click on it, the next slide is what you will see.
You can see each district or representative, its total population, the plus or minus means whether it has too many residents or need some residents. If the number is positive, it has too many residents. If it has a negative number, then it needs to gain residents. Under the shapes columns, the first icon tells you if your map is contiguous or not. If you see a red X, if it is not contiguous. The second icon tells you if you have embedded your district within another district. In your maps we will probably not see this icon change. Under the Demographics area, you will see the each district and its racial and ethnic breakdown of population. These numbers are needed for each map.
If you want to see how compact your map is, all you have to do is click on the Analyze button. When you click on it, the next screen is what you will see. Remember the higher the number on compactness the better the map is.
The software app has a mathematical formula for measuring compactness. For our purposes, we use the compactness score offered by the App. You can see this score on the Compactness scale and where the arrow is pointing. For this map, its compactness score is 35. That is low. Your map show try to improve this score. With 8 districts, this will be a challenge. Remember, the higher the number the better the map is.
Once you are finished and happy with your map, you need to share the map and its characteristics and statistics with the City Staff. They will review it and get it ready to submit it to the Commission. You submit it by copying the Universal Resource Locator (URL) link to Redistricting@elpasotexas.gov You get this URL by clicking on the three dot triangle.
When you click the three dots, this screen will appear. Now click on the copy to capture the URL. Include the link to the map in your email by pasting it in your email. Also include any narrative or other information you wish to have the Commission consider. Submit it by sending your email to the URL link Redistricting@elpasotexas.gov
Dave’s Redistricting Resources / Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/c/DRA2020/videos