Andrew Leager: Let Watson draw districts

Regarding the Feb. 6 news article “Federal court invalidates maps of 2 N.C. districts”: We are all shocked, shocked that N.C. legislative leaders object to being caught gerrymandering our state’s congressional districts. They’ve got two weeks to pull up their pants and fix it. But how? Let Watson do it.

Watson is the computer on “Jeopardy” that whipped Ken Jennings. Given the logical algorithms, Watson could draw district lines that make sense, devoid of political venality. Those algorithms could give priority to compact layout followed by adjustments to account for racial, economic and urban/rural considerations.

Most important, nowhere would Watson be infected by instructions to let one political party force the other one to knuckle under as the currently drawn lines clearly illustrate.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Andrew Leager: Let Watson draw districts."