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suburban and -exurban districts and two predominantly urban districts, in addition to the three rural districts. Of course, as with cities and rural areas, not all suburbs have interests in common with each other. This plan has nonetheless preserved suburban communities of interest where possible, including such areas as the south and western Hennepin County suburbs; Carver, Scott, and southern Dakota Counties; the Interstate 94 corridor to St. Cloud; and Anoka and northern Washington Counties. We adopt this plan because we conclude that it best reflects a balance between urban, suburban, and rural interests. Iv. Overall, this plan is balanced and fair and satisfies the criteria set forth in our order of October 29, 2001. It is among the lowest in number of split counties, minor civil divisions, and voting districts while achieving a zero population deviation. The districts are composed of convenient, contiguous territory, and are compact. The plan preserves many of the state's largest c xnmumties of interest, including Native American reservations, counties that have 3 Statistical computations of compactness are currently the most objective means of measuring the compactness of various districts. These measures have their limitations, however, because they tend to compare a district's shape to circles or squares even though Minnesota's contours often do not lend themselves to the creation of circular or square districts. Thus, a district following the state's borders will necessarily have lower compactness scores. The first congressional district in this plan, for example, fares the most poorly in the Roeck measure of compactness, but is a neat, rectangular district that follows the state's border, accommodates the Interstate 90 corridor, and encompasses whole counties except in the one instance it was necessary to add a small piece of another county to achieve the ideal population. The sixth congressional district is less rectangular, but recognizes the growth corridor between Hennepin County and St. Cloud along Interstate 94, and includes additional growth areas in Anoka and Washington Counties. While adding counties such as Isanti and Chisago' to the sixth district might have made it look more square, the `domino-like effect of altering one district would have resulted in removing Carver County, one of the counties in the original seven-county metropolitan area, from a metropolitan district and adding it to the seventh congressional district. This would have been a poor trade for additional statistical compactness points, given the suitability of placing Isanti and Chisago Counties with counties to their north. -t4-