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[rocketknight]

Can You Solve Slate’s Gerrymandering Jigsaw Puzzle?
Put the ridiculously gerrymandered congressional districts back together.

See if you can make sense of several states' convoluted congressional districts with this fun package of jigsaw puzzles! Ages 5+!

 

[daviyoung]

It's been 5 minutes since OP was posted and no replies. Is this a record?

No, it's a puzzle and GAF MUST SOLVE IT!

I'm not doing this, but I appreciate the satire.

 

[Leunam]

It's been 5 minutes since OP was posted and no replies. Is this a record?

Well it took me seven minutes or so to complete all five (damn you Ohio).

 

[akira28]

edges first. it gets pretty easy after that.

 

[toadsworth]

This is hilarious! And pretty depressing. But also hilarious!

(5 minutes 30 seconds)

 

[Earthstrike]

I actually just did these earlier today and was thinking about making a thread. Each puzzle took me about a minute to a minute and a half once I had a good methodology down (3rd puzzle). Pretty much, start with the largest pieces. that will usually occupy a lot of border, then fill in the remaining holes.

 

[Stet]

Does this mean I have to vote Republican?

 

[BertramCooper]

8 minutes, 53 seconds. Would have done it faster if not for work getting in the way.

North Carolina is appalling, and we're only slightly better in Ohio.

Maryland is terrible, too, proving it goes both ways.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Ugh, site should have the pieces click together, it's awful for the little pieces they give you otherwise.

 

[xbhaskarx]

edges first. it gets pretty easy after that.

.

 

[mernst23]

5 min 9 s

 

[HerbertFish]

The democrats have gerrymandered the absolute shit out of my district in Illinois. It's hilarious. Makes 0 sense, so I guess more sad then funny.

EDIT: oh this article is painting gerrymandering as a republican thing. lol

 

[Affeinvasion]

The democrats have gerrymandered the absolute shit out of my district in Illinois. It's hilarious. Makes 0 sense, so I guess more sad then funny.

EDIT: oh this article is painting gerrymandering as a republican thing. lol

Historically both parties have done it. Republicans just have a more pronounced recent history with it.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Pennsyltucky was by far the most challenging.

oh this article is painting gerrymandering as a republican thing. lol

Before brushing it aside like that you wanna read the article there, champ.

Although Republican U.S. House candidates won about one-third of the vote in Maryland in 2012, they grabbed only one of the seven seats because Democratic state legislators had packed conservative voters into the 1st District and given the 2nd District, 3rd District, and 7th District pieces of the Baltimore area to make them safely Democratic. The 3rd District has been described as "a crazy quilt," "a blood spatter from a crime scene," and a "broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state."

 

[Shadow Hog]

6:50.

 

[Oblivionmancer]

7 something, closed the page already. This is hilarious, sad, and instructive all at once.

 

[Featheredkitten]

Ten minutes ten seconds. Had to make sure they all matched exactly...which slowed me down. Hilariously sad shaped districts are sad.

 

[Jackben]

this article is painting gerrymandering as a republican thing. lol

Reading skills failed you today: one of the puzzles actually points out Democratic gerrymandering.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Pennsylvania is the worst. You should see the Philadelphia city council districts!

It's important to note, for example, that district 5 contains the wealthiest section of the city, and then spurs off to the north and the west and so also includes two of the poorest sections of the city in the same district. It was done to protect the democratic councilman's seat, rather than allow a republican councilman a chance to win.

There was a contest run by an independent group to propose new districts for the city. You can follow the link and see the differences.

Fix Philly Districts

The amount of gerrymandering will completely astound you. The citizen proposed plan "achieves an average district compactness score of 70.22% with just 21 ward splits, while having a population disparity of only 756 people between the most populous and least populous districts." The city council plan? Not so much.

Gerrymandering is much worse an issue than people ever give it credit for. There needs to be vast nationwide regulation prohibiting the practice and ensuring certain percentages of compactness to avoid stuff like this.

 

[Forsete]

8:11 and I am not even americuhn, and I am drunk.

Avg tiem: 10:01

#YOLO
#SWAG

 

[Featheredkitten]

Gerrymandering is much worse an issue than people ever give it credit for. There needs to be vast nationwide regulation prohibiting the practice and ensuring certain percentages of compactness to avoid stuff like this.

The problem with that is that it would need to be a law.... I totally agree though.

 

[anonymous_abc]

4:54

this is so utterly deplorable, how anyone can defend it is beyond me...

 

[AnotherNils]

Before brushing it aside like that you wanna read the article there, champ.

For the life of me I don't see the article. Just the map.

 

[Sai-kun]

Did the first one in 3:30, the second in 2:30, and said "oh fuck" out loud at Pennsylvania :lol

 

[Kinyou]

That was genuinely fun.

Also politics are so messed up. How can anyone be okay with this.

 

[User 406]

I think we need to set up an annual Ohio 9th District Bike Marathon from West Schaff Road in Cleveland to West Bancroft Street on the west side of Toledo. I've picked out a route that (almost, damn you Crane Creek State Park!) stays within the district lines and keeps it under 125 miles. http://goo.gl/maps/M6ua9

 

[Eric C]

Ohio took me the longest

 

[Axiology]

Wow, that red district in the OP is ridiculous. Mother Mary...

 

[Hobbestetrician]

For the life of me I don't see the article. Just the map.

Completing a state map reveals a short paragraph about the make-up of the districts.

 

[AnotherNils]

Completing a state map reveals a short paragraph about the make-up of the districts.

Sounds like a lot of work to me...

Spoiler

I close the window without looking after completing it earlier today

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Love that Iowa is the tutorial.

 

[Brian Griffin]

4:54

this is so utterly deplorable, how anyone can defend it is beyond me...

When you don't a single fuck about democracy or the people you are supposed to represent it's probably pretty damn easy.

Gerrymandering is right up there with the voter suppression laws the GOP are passing or trying to pass all over the place. The know they can't win unless they game the system so they are going to cheat as much as possible because that's all they care about. The blatantness of it all is simply amazing and it baffles me that more people aren't calling them out as straight up evil.

Bradley Manning gets called a traitor (don't want to derail, just stating the fact) and yet these guys are openly doing work to undermine our entire system of elections and are still considered by many as just the other side of the political coin.

EDIT: took me 6min 28sec