The delayed census redistricting data delivery schedule has put many states in a bind as they run up against state constitutional and statutory deadlines for redistricting. In Minnesota, the deadline for drawing a congressional map is in February of 2022, but the state has a decades-long history of not accomplishing the task. A new lawsuit filed in state court seeks to get ahead of the problem.
According to the lawsuit filed on the 19th, the situation is dire. Population projections indicate that the state may lose a congressional seat in the upcoming apportionment scheduled to be released later this Spring. According to the plaintiffs, if a congressional map is not in place by the 2022 deadline, elections for the U.S. House of Representatives may have to be conducted at-large with no map; an unprecedented situation for many states, but a situation that Minnesota apparently found itself in in 1932. The complaint also includes the state legislative districts.
The plaintiff’s propose that new maps be drawn with 2018 population estimates instead, and at the very least, they ask the court to enjoin state officials from using the current malapportioned districts to conduct redistricting and to redraw the maps if the legislature fails to do so before the statutory deadlines.
