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This article based on electoral coalitions within times of change in population made me think a lot about maps, visualizations, based on politics and collections of votes. I have been keeping an eye on the race for US Congress race still occurring after almost a week between Bruce Poliquin and Jared Golden. Many maps, for example on The New York Times, miss represent the state of Maine. In the figure 1 below, it seems as though Poliquin, the republican, is in the lead. When you actually take a look at the percentage there is a 1% difference between the leading candidates. The sparse population in most of the ‘republican’ areas doesn’t not account for a large discrepancy of votes for Poliquin. This visualization must be read with acknowledgment, along with percentages backing up the variation in population. 

The author of “Urban Mapping” also makes an interesting point about the diversity of population, which is also talked about in the article. The diversity within Maine is varied and not great compared to a place like Los Angeles. The diversity within cities like Portland and Lewiston must be acknowledged as well when looking at the voters map of Maine.