Boundary Delimitation —Boundary Delimitation. Boundary Delimitation as PDF/printable document Boundary Delimitation Index. Boundary Delimitation Quiz. The Boundary Delimitation topic area discusses the administrative and cost implications of delimiting electoral districts for representation purposes and considers the social and political context in which delimitation takes place. It also covers the boundary setting process associated with voting areas (also called polling areas or election precincts) needed for the purposes of assigning voters to polling places. These boundaries need to be adjusted periodically due to spatial demographic shifts over time and thus remain relevant to even the most established democracies. Overview of Boundary Delimitation. Delimiting Electoral Districts. Special Considerations for Delimiting Voting Areas. History of Monaco; Rock of Monaco; House of Grimaldi (List of rulers) Monegasque Revolution; Monaco succession crisis of 1918; Franco-Monegasque Treaties. Cemeteries and locations on the WW1 Ypres Salient Battlefields in Belgium. The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question, was a controversy over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations. Word / Phrase If searching for a property, for best results enter the street name only (excluding house number). Tasks Involved in Drawing Electoral District Boundaries. Structure and Rules for Delimiting Electoral Districts The term . However, it can also be used to denote the process of drawing voting areas (also called polling areas, districts or election precincts) for the purposes of assigning voters to polling places. The term has been employed to describe the process of demarcating administrative boundaries such as state/province, county or municipality lines as well. This section focuses only on the delimitation of electoral districts and voting areas. Furthermore, because the delimitation of electoral districts is far more complicated and much more controversial than the delimitation of voting areas, the vast majority of this topic area will be devoted to the delimitation of electoral district boundaries. Delimiting Electoral Districts. The periodic delimitation of electoral boundaries, or redistricting or redistribution, is necessary in any representative system where single- member districts or uniformly small multimember districts are used. If electoral boundaries are not periodically adjusted, population inequities develop across districts. Adjusting district boundaries can have major consequences not only for the legislators who represent the districts, but also for the individual and community constituents of the districts. Does anyone know the grade boundary for GCSE Edexcel maths paper 1 non-calc? Ultimately, election results and the composition of the legislature are affected by the selection of district boundaries. But the importance of the redistricting process is seldom recognised outside of political circles. Countries have adopted various methods for delimiting districts. In some, the choice of methods is simply a matter of historical tradition. In others, methods for delimiting districts have been borrowed from a colonial power or an influential neighbouring country. In still other countries, delimitation is based on a variety of factors that may include geographic size of the country, its physical features, or its financial resources. Recently, countries have taken their political and social context into account when making decisions on which redistricting practices to adopt. Clearly, there is a broad range of possibilities. Informed decision- making is the best approach to selecting or reforming a redistricting process. Electoral Systems that Delimit Electoral Districts. The delimitation of electoral districts is most commonly associated with plurality or majority electoral systems. Both systems rely heavily, if not exclusively, on single- member districts. These districts must be redrawn periodically to reflect changes in the population. Plurality and majority systems, however, are not the only types of electoral systems that require the periodic delimitation of electoral districts. Some mixed and proportional representation systems, including the single transferable vote system, also must occasionally delimit electoral districts. The importance of the delimitation process varies, depending on the type of electoral system. Because plurality and majority systems can, and do, produce election outcomes that are disproportional with regard to the ratio of legislative seats to partisan votes, the delimitation process is very important. It is less important in mixed systems or proportional representation systems. Structure and Rules for Delimiting Electoral Districts. Countries that delimit districts must establish a formal structure and a set of rules for carrying out the delimitation process. Because different sets of districts can produce different election outcomes, even if the underlying vote patterns remain constant, the choice of delimitation practices is important. Electoral legislation outlining the formal structure and rules for delimitation should address the following issues: Who will draw the district lines or boundaries? And who will have the ultimate responsibility for selecting the final districting plan? Should the persons who draw the districts be independent from the legislature? Should the boundary authority be politically neutral? Should the legislature have any formal role at all in the process? Should some mechanism exist for public input into to the process? Should criteria be adopted for the line drawers to follow? If so, what should these delimitation criteria be? How often should districts be redrawn and how long should the redistricting process take? Under which criteria should districts be redrawn? Delimitation practices vary markedly across countries. In the United States, for example, legislators are usually responsible for drawing electoral district lines. Partisan politics and the protection of incumbent legislators play a large role in the redistricting process. By contrast, politicians in many Commonwealth countries have opted out of the delimitation process. Districting is left to independent commissions with neutral delimitation criteria for guidance. The reasons for these differences are best explained by the social, political and cultural norms. Tasks Involved in Drawing Electoral District Boundaries. Although the rules for delimitation vary markedly across countries, the tasks involved in drawing districts are generally very similar. Drawing district boundaries entails: allocating seats to sub- regions of the country, such as states or provinces; creating a database minimally composed of maps and population data; assigning geographic units to districts until all geographic units within the territory have been assigned; summarising and evaluating the districting plan. This can be a complex, time- consuming and expensive process. Delimiting Voting Areas. Most countries, regardless of the type of election system employed, delimit voting areas for the administration of elections. Voting areas are contiguous geographic areas in which all the voters are assigned to the same voting (or polling) station. Since voting areas are used for election administration purposes only, the boundaries of these areas tend to be less controversial, and the delimitation of these areas is usually left to the discretion of election administrators. However, because the data required and the tasks involved in the delimitation of voting areas are similar to those involved in drawing electoral district lines, the delimitation of voting areas is discussed under the Boundary Delimitation section of ACE. Conclusion. The Boundary Delimitation topic area discusses the types of electoral systems that require periodic electoral district delimitation and considers the advantages and disadvantages of various districting alternatives (see Delimiting Electoral Districts). It considers the formal structure and rules that countries use to conduct electoral district delimitation, or redistricting (see Structure and Rules for Delimiting Electoral Districts). It outlines each step of the district drawing process, from the creation of a redistricting database to describing and evaluating districting plans (see Tasks Involved in Drawing Electoral District Boundaries). In addition, this topic area covers delimitation of voting areas for election administration purposes (see Special Considerations: Delimiting Voting Areas). We hope this discussion will better prepare countries to make informed decisions on whether to delimit electoral districts and, if so, which boundary delimitation practices to adopt. Guiding Principles of Boundary Delimitation. Because delimitation, or redistricting, practices vary greatly around the world, there are few universal principles to guide the delimitation process. Countries disagree on fundamental issues, such as how impartial and independent the process can and should be from the legislative and political concerns. But there are several generally accepted principles: representativeness; equality of voting strength; independent, impartial boundary authority (or, at a minimum, reciprocity); transparency; non- discrimination. Representativeness. Electoral district boundaries should be drawn such that constituents have an opportunity to elect candidates they feel truly represent them. This usually means that district boundaries should coincide with communities of interest as much as possible. Communities of interest can be defined in a variety of ways. For example, they can be geographically defined communities delineated by administrative boundaries or physical features such as mountains or islands, or they can be “communities” that share a common race, ethnic or tribal background, or the same religion or language. If districts are not composed of communities of interest, however defined, it may be difficult for representatives to serve the constituency well. Equality of Voting Strength. Electoral district boundaries should be drawn so that districts are relatively equal in population. Equally populous districts allow voters to have an equally weighted vote in the election of representatives. If, for example, a representative is elected from a district that has twice as many voters as another district, voters in the larger district will have half the influence of voters in the smaller district. Electoral districts that vary greatly in population- -a condition referred to as .
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