DRAWING THE LINE THE TIME-HONORED PRACTICE OF GERRYMANDERING HAS BECOME A HIGH-TECH PROCEDURE.(Main)

Byline: RICHARD MINITER Special to The Washington Post

The defeat of Rep. Stephen Solarz in the New York Democratic primary Sept. 15 surprised many observers. While the press was quick to attribute the loss to Solarz's 743 House Bank overdrafts and his decision to run in a six-way race in the newly drawn and predominantly Hispanic 12th District, Solarz faced a third hurdle - a computer.

That's because the New York congressional districts were drawn by computer junkies using a special program that manipulates new census information. The result is an electronic gerrymander so precise it can tell who lives on each side of the street. "It would have been very difficult for a mere human hand to draw that map," said a spokesman for Solarz.

The district that Solarz chose to run in snakes through Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Districts had to be redrawn when declining …