America’s congressional maps are a bit fairer than a decade ago

Some of the earliest employees of the United States government were statisticians. Their methods may have been primitive by today’s standards, but the so-called enumerators were bound by the constitution once a decade to record where each person in the country lived. These tallies are used to draw the boundaries of the districts represented by each member of the House of Representatives. State politicians, who are charged with redistricting, typically try to draw maps that benefit their own side, within limits set out by state constitutions and federal judges. The maps must divide the population roughly equally, must not split up racial minorities unnecessarily and not be excessively funny shapes. Aside from that, anything goes.