Professor Jeff Barton and Student Grover Patteson Hernandez F24 Use Math to Fight Partisan Gerrymandering

“When I came to Hampshire I planned to study computer science,” said Div II student Grover Patteson Hernandez F24. “But I found a love for math and data analysis during my first two semesters. I have since focused on the use of data in understanding the relationship between people and the environments they live in, particularly within urban areas.”

Professor of Mathematics Jeff Barton is the chair of Patteson Hernandez’s Div II committee. Barton said he was “impressed by their problem-solving abilities and their serious approach to their work” when they took a class with him last semester. When Barton needed a student to work with him on a project involving Python coding, another faculty member coincidentally suggested Patteson Hernandez.

“The goal of the project is to use election and census data to create a baseline for the fair number of seats a given party should receive [within a district],” explained Patteson Hernandez. “That baseline can then be used to argue against unfair redistricting maps.” The use of such maps is known as gerrymandering.

Barton has been studying applications of mathematics in redistricting since attending a
workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, by the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group at Tufts University. He noted that he “was intrigued by the complexity of what seems like it should be a simple question: ‘What makes a redistricting plan fair?’” He began working on his own answer to that question and “has been hooked ever since!”

Patteson Hernandez’s role in the project is implementing an algorithm in Python that will compute the aforementioned fair number of seats, building off of an existing framework originally written by another one of Barton’s colleagues. “I’ve made adjustments to the algorithm itself, as well as modifications to handle edge cases, make manual adjustments for testing, run many elections and states at once, and compile the results,” they said.

Barton reported that the results thus far have been very promising. He’s worked with other students on similar projects at Hampshire, including a group independent study for which a pair of students created an educational gerrymandering video game.

Both Barton and Patteson Hernandez value Hampshire’s flexible structure. “I was homeschooled before college, and that gave me an appreciation for the self-driven learning environment that Hampshire offers,” said Patteson Hernandez. “Hampshire gives me the opportunity to explore a wide variety of interests while I work on my degree.”

Barton likes that Hampshire doesn’t require students to take math classes, unlike many other colleges and universities. “It makes a tremendous difference in the classroom atmosphere since all of the students who take mathematics want to be there,” he said. “Hampshire also encourages faculty to teach innovative and transdisciplinary courses. For example, I teach a course on the mathematics of fairness in which I introduce students to a variety of applications of mathematics to issues of fairness, including my own research in redistricting. We read a recent Supreme Court decision on racial gerrymandering and created a Congressional redistricting plan for South Carolina in response to that decision. I don’t think there are very many colleges where students would have that kind of experience in a mathematics class!”