Draw the Lines Pennsylvania

Draw the Lines Pennsylvania, a good government group opposing gerrymandering, have announced the winners of their 2020 map-drawing contest. For this contest, students and citizens used Draw the Lines' district builder software tool to create a 17-seat congressional district map of Pennsylvania. They also submitted a personal statement explaining their map, which included their values, the challenges of drawing their map, and the research they did and feedback they got in making the map. 

A number of RMU students participated and their maps moved through several rounds of judging: Political Science major Caylee Jackson was named a semifinalist, Political Science major Nathaniel Hoffman's map reached the 2nd round, and Political Science student Daniel Pollack won second place in the western division for higher education students, which included a cash prize.  

Daniel's map is pictured. He made congressional districts which had nearly the same population, were compact, contiguous, with communities of interest together in the same districts, and not influenced by politics. 

Congrats to Daniel, Caylee and Nathaniel for their success in this competition!