York College Student Social Science GIS Projects – Fall 2020

Project: Publicly Funded Services in Relation to Poverty

Student Researcher: Emma Olney


Introduction

“I have taken Introduction to Geographic Information Systems in the midst of an extraordinary year, complete with mounting racial tension and a Presidential Election. (and a pandemic, of course!) Therefore, I knew I wanted to explore the age-old topic of racial gerrymandering, a combination of this year’s events, in the region of York County.”


Context

“On January 22nd, 2018, the US Supreme Court rejected the district map of Pennsylvania, saying that, through gerrymandering, it offered an unfair partisan bias.

On February 19th, 2018, the Supreme Court approved a modified map for congressional district use (“Redistricting in Pennsylvania – BallotPedia”).”


The Research Question

“Does York County, Pennsylvania utilize racial gerrymandering in drawing congressional district boundaries?”


Conclusions

“Upon examining the differences between Windsor and Springettsbury Townships, I do not think that York County, as a whole, is using racial gerrymandering.

This conclusion is based on the fact that each county had an equal number of different attributes. Where Windsor Township had more land cover and polling stations, Springettsbury Township had more medical facilities and police stations. Springettsbury also had more overall diversity, but its population was larger–meaning there was more chance, statistically, to develop the diversity of the population.

Overall, each Township had its upsides and downsides, but their attributes were rather evenly distributed. This leads me to believe that Congress would not have had a reason to split the townships between districts for a benefit–because the counties were fairly equal.


Lessons Learned

“As it turns out, I am grateful that I could not find race/ethnicity data to include in my ArcMap.

Focusing my personal map on county attributes to eliminate variables and placing the census information in a separate table allowed me to see the data comprehensively, realistically, and with a more critical eye.

If I had not seen the race/ethnicity data in the context of other attributes of the two counties, I would have automatically assumed that York County was utilizing racial gerrymandering; however, with all of the data together, I was able to make a more accurate conclusion.”


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