RedistrictingOnline.Org is a nonpartisan educational resource for all things redistricting.
Our mission is to educate, inform, and share resources related to redistricting.
Redistricting is hard. Exploring it should be easy.
A Note About Nonpartisanship While RDO is nonpartisan, the redistricting process itself is inseparable from politics. Many sources you see on the site may represent a specific political outlook, but RDO does not support or ascribe to any particular political view. We aim to accurately describe developments in redistricting. Thus, our standard for including content on the site is whether or not the content is informative.
Meet Our Partners
To ensure that we bring you the best redistricting information available, we maintain close personal contact and relationships with experts all over the country. This depth and breadth of talent means we can provide insightful, informative writing and analysis as well as curate trusted resources on redistricting. We are proud to work closely with outstanding colleagues from leading educational institutions, and professional organizations, including these:
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
NCSL is the nation’s most respected bipartisan organization representing state legislatures and their staff. It is the only organization that advocates solely for states, interests in Washington, D.C. NCSL educates legislators and staff on a full slate of policy issues from agriculture to workplace safety. It runs a robust redistricting and elections program and has a very active dedicated standing committee on redistricting and elections. Each decade, NCSL is responsible for training thousands of legislators and staff on redistricting law, policy and practice and publishes a key reference book on redistricting used by many attorneys and other professionals.
New York Census and Redistricting Institute
The Institute engages and educates public institutions, nonprofit civic and voting rights organizations, the media, philanthropies, and the public about law and policy on all aspects of the redistricting process. It also advises state and local government officials on best redistricting practices and strategies. Through the Institute, public mapping programs are available to help New Yorkers evaluate and develop redistricting plans. The Institute's Redistricting Roundtable provides a forum for experts and activists to share information and strategies.
Our Team
Michelle L. Davis
Publisher, Executive Editor, RedistrictingOnline.org
Michelle is a nationally recognized expert on redistricting and a senior policy analyst for the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, the professional staff agency for the Maryland General Assembly. She has over 19 years’ experience as a legislative analyst and has played a key role in Maryland redistricting beginning with the 2000 round of redistricting. She is a past Staff Vice-Chair of the Redistricting and Elections Standing Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and is a contributing author and managing editor for the 2020 edition of the NCSL’s Redistricting Law 2020 (the Red Book), the preeminent publication on redistricting law in the U.S.
Michelle holds a J.D. from the University Of Maryland School Of Law and an M.B.A from the University of Baltimore. While at law school, she served as managing editor of the Federal Circuit Bar Journal. As an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, her “Race and the Law” course focused on the legal development of affirmative action, voting rights, housing discrimination, and other civil rights laws. She is an experienced public speaker and published author, having been published in the American Bar Association’s The Public Lawyer, The University of Baltimore Law Forum, The Maryland Bar Bulletin, and The Maryland Bar Journal.
A Note from the Editor
I found redistricting as a political science major in college searching for a thesis topic. Drawn to a journal article titled “No Two Seats,” because of its bad grammar in my opinion, I read it just to satisfy my curiosity about the title. That article, written by upcoming author and voting rights scholar; Professor Lani Guinier, was the beginning of my redistricting education. Fast forward to 2020, and I am a veteran of 3 redistricting cycles.
RedistrictingOnline was an idea that I had for a website that I pitched to the renowned Nathaniel Persily at a conference over ten years ago. At the time, there was little to no information about redistricting on the Internet. Persily was supportive, agreed to be on the board of advisors, and handed me a copy of an article he was about to have published. He told me to go for it, and use his article as the inaugural post. I did, and I am forever grateful.
Wendy Underhill, Managing Editor
Bio Coming Soon
Jeffrey M. Wice, Managing Editor
Jeffrey is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow at New York Law School where he directs the NY Census & Redistricting Institute. He has over 40 years of experience working in redistricting, voting rights, and census law and is considered a national expert. Roll Call has included him in its list of the top 50 Washington policy insiders. “Of counsel” to the Washington, D.C. law firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock, P.C., he has assisted many state legislative leaders, members of Congress, and other state and local government officials on redistricting and voting rights matters across the nation.
In New York, he serves as a long-time counsel to the New York State Legislature and has assisted in all congressional and state legislative redistricting processes since the 1980 cycle.
Wice is a co-editor of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) 2020 Redistricting Law Handbook and he contributed to the 1990, 2000, and 2010 editions. He is also a Fellow at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and has taught election law at Hofstra Law School and the Touro Law Center. He holds a B.A. from The George Washington University and a J.D. from the Antioch School of Law.
Email: jeffrey.wice@nyls.edu