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Replication Data for: Validating the Applicability of Bayesian Inference with Surname and Geocoding to Congressional Redistricting

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: Validating the Applicability of Bayesian Inference with Surname and Geocoding to Congressional Redistricting
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/LXGDWZ
 
Creator Curiel, John
DeLuca, Kevin
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description Ensuring descriptive representation of racial minorities without packing minorities too heavily into districts is a perpetual difficulty, especially in states lacking voter file race data. One advance since the 2010 redistricting cycle is the advent of Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG), which greatly improves upon previous ecological inference methods in identifying voter race. In this article, we test the viability of employing BISG to redistricting under two posterior allocation methods for race assignment: plurality versus probabilistic. We validate these methods through 10,000 redistricting simulations of North Carolina and Georgia’s congressional districts and compare BISG estimates to actual voter file racial data. We find that probabilistic summing of the BISG posteriors significantly reduces error rates at the precinct and district level relative to plurality racial assignment, and therefore should be the preferred method when using BISG for redistricting. Our results suggest that BISG can aid in the construction of majority minority districts during the redistricting process.

The following data set consists of voter lists for NC and GA necessary to estimate the race of individuals via BISG and followed by redistricting simulations.
 
Subject Social Sciences
redistricting
bayes
spatial methods
race
representation
 
Contributor Curiel, John