Redistricting:

Redistricting is based on census numbers. In 2006, the Census Bureau adopted what is called "Differential Privacy".

From the Differential Privacy page @ the Census Bureau: "Differential privacy, first developed in 2006, is a framework for measuring the precise dis-closure risk associated with each release of confidential data. It allows an agency like the Census Bureau to quantify the precise amount of statistical noise required to protect confidentiality. This precision allows us to calibrate and allocate precise amounts of statistical noise in a way that protects confidentiality while maintaining the overall accuracy of the data in the aggregate. The amount of randomly generated noise that is injected is driven by a tunable, or adjustable, “privacy-loss budget.” An algorithm, that is also tunable, determines how much of that noise is injected into individual results and geographies."

So I'm assuming (yeah, I know) that these algorithms can be 'adjusted'. Is this why redistricting is such a mess? Interesting that this method was introduced while bush was in office…

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/factsheets/2021/comparing-differential-privacy-with-older-disclosure-avoidance-methods.pdf