Another way to lessen (though not eliminate) gerrymandering would be to apportion districts by the total number of *votes* cast in the general election rather than the total *population* of the United States and divide by the total number of representatives. Then apportion representatives by number of votes cast.
This would not only make districts reflect population trends more quickly (every two years rather than every ten), but an uncompetitive race would tend to have a lower turnout, leading to fewer (and more competive) districts in the state for the next election. States would have an incentive to encourage voters to go to the polls, election officials would have a reason to count every legitimate voter, and other states would have a reason to keep an eye out for Chicago-style deceased voters (since it would lessen their own power). Of course this would take a constitutional amendment, and the census would still be a valuable governmental tool, but coupled with automated apportionment and a Condorcet-completion method this would be very cool indeed! (Ok, this isn't very likely, but why not shoot for the moon?) Michael Rouse [EMAIL PROTECTED]
