Page proofs are now available, and posted on SSRN, for my article proposing an alternative districting system in which voters choose the constituencies they wish to join for purposes of legislative representation, rather than having government officials draw the districts in which voters are placed. Editing on the article was complete before the Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan, and thus one of the reasons for adopting a self-districting system (to protect the representation of minority voters) is somewhat diminished in force–although not completely eliminated, since self-districting would be a more powerful method of protecting fair representation of minority voters than the Gingles framework under the VRA (and because the Gingles framework remains vulnerable to potential future erosion, given the open issue flagged in Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence).

Moreover, other reasons for favoring a system of self-districting remain full strength, including combatting the evil of partisan gerrymanders. As explained in the article, geography would become a secondary consideration in the districting process, after voters have sorted themselves into their preferred communities of interest. Geography would come into play only if a self-selected group of voters were entitled to two or more seats within a legislative assembly, and then this group would be subdivided geographically without any consideration of partisanship. There would be no role for gerrymandering to manipulate district lines based on partisanship.

The article explains the relationship of self-districting to systems of proportional representation. Self-districting can be viewed as a hybrid between proportional representation and America’s system of single-member districts. Indeed, one advantage of self-districting over other proposals to use proportional representation for congressional seats is that self-districting would not require repeal of the existing single-member district requirement for congressional elections. Any state right now is free to adopt a self-districting system for its congressional delegation if it wishes.