Editing Gerrymandering (section)

====Minimum district to convex polygon ratio====
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2022}}
[[File:Polygons of Georgia Districts 8 and 10.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Smallest possible convex polygons drawn around the [[Georgia's 8th congressional district|8th]] (left) and [[Georgia's 10th congressional district|10th]] congressional districts in Georgia, 2012. To avoid penalizing large areas, the measure is the ratio of the area of the district to the area of the polygon. District 8 will get a lower score than District 10.]]
One method is to define a minimum district to [[convex polygon]] ratio.{{Definition needed|date=July 2016}} To use this method, every proposed district is circumscribed by the smallest possible convex polygon (its [[convex hull]]; think of stretching a rubberband around the outline of the district). Then, the area of the district is divided{{explain|date=December 2015}} by the area of the polygon; or, if at the edge of the state, by the portion of the area of the polygon within state boundaries.

The advantages of this method are that it allows a certain amount of human intervention to take place (thus solving the Colorado problem of [[#Shortest splitline algorithm|splitline districting]]); it allows the borders of the district to follow existing jagged subdivisions, such as neighborhoods or voting districts (something isoperimetric rules would discourage); and it allows concave coastline districts, such as the Florida gulf coast area. It would mostly eliminate bent districts, but still permit long, straight ones. However, since human intervention is still allowed, the gerrymandering issues of packing and cracking would still occur, just to a lesser extent.