Predicting Partisan Redistricting Disputes

Partisan redistricting disputes are relatively rare occurrences. This paper explores the factors that lead to partisan disputes over congressional redistricting plans. In previous work single party control of both houses of the state legislature and the governorship emerged as a key correlate of partisan redistricting in the 1980s. This paper presents an interactive statistical model of partisan redistricting plans. The basic conclusion is that in addition to single party control, the nature of the voting role and the political competitiveness of the states effect the likelihood of partisan redistricting.