Editor

Maryland Officials Announce Special Session on Redistricting in August

By EditorJul 11, 20260 Comments

On Wednesday, July 8, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson jointly announced that the Maryland General Assembly will convene for a special session August 3rd through 5th to consider placing a constitutional amendment regarding congressional redistricting on the November ballot. This marks a significant reversal for Ferguson, who earlier this year refused to allow a Senate vote on the House-passed redistricting map that would have eliminated the state's sole Republican-held congressional seat. Ferguson said this time the approach is different: "After recent court decisions weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and created new uncertainty around congressional redistricting,…

MarylandMaryland, mid-decade redistricting, policyindepth

Colorado Is Out of the Redistricting Fight After Supreme Court Strikes Down All Ballot Measures

By EditorJun 30, 20260 Comments

The Colorado Supreme Court on June 29 unanimously struck down all five redistricting-related ballot initiatives that had been approved for signature gathering, ruling that each violated the state constitution's single-subject requirement. The single-subject rule, codified in Article V, Section 1(5.5) of the Colorado Constitution, provides that "no measure shall be proposed by petition containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title," and that if a measure contains more than one subject such that a ballot title cannot be fixed to clearly express a single subject, "no title shall be set and the measure shall not…

Coloradocolorado, mid-decade redistricting, policyindepth

Georgia Republican Leaders Say No to Redistricting. For Now

By EditorJun 25, 20260 Comments

Georgia's Republican legislative leaders rejected Gov. Brian Kemp's call to redraw the state's congressional and state legislative district maps during a special session that convened on June 17, citing pending litigation and the need for more time to evaluate the legal landscape after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. House Speaker Jon Burns sent Kemp a letter hours before the session was scheduled to begin, writing that "changes to Georgia's maps should take place only when members of the General Assembly and citizens have been given ample opportunity to gather the facts, provide input, and engage in…

GeorgiaGeorgia, mid-decade redistricting, policyindepth

Callais Comes to County Government: Federal Judge Applies New VRA Standard to Mississippi Local Map

By EditorJun 25, 20260 Comments

A federal judge in Mississippi ruled on June 24 that DeSoto County's 2022 electoral map does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, dismissing a challenge brought by the DeSoto County NAACP, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and two Black voters who alleged the map dilutes Black voting power across 25 local offices, including the Board of Supervisors, Board of Education, Election Commission, justice court judges, and constables. The U.S. District Court, applying the Supreme Court's April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, found the plaintiffs failed all three preconditions of the Gingles test - the threshold legal standard…

Local Redistricting, MississippiLatest, lawindepth, localpage, Mississippi

Census Watchdog Flags Risks to the 2030 Count

By EditorJun 18, 20260 Comments

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns that the Census Bureau, having narrowed the scope of its 2026 Census Test, may finalize important parts of the 2030 count's design before it has evidence that those methods actually work. Released June 4, 2026, the report describes that the Bureau has reduced planned test sites from six to two and 19 planned operational activities to nine, leaving fewer opportunities to evaluate the new approaches the agency hopes to use at the end of the decade. These preparations matter far beyond the test itself, because the once-a-decade count determines…

Census Data and Geographycensus 2030, dataindepth, localpage, U.S. Census Bureau

Florida Supreme Court Declines to Intervene, Locking in Mid-Decade Map for 2026

By EditorJun 14, 20260 Comments

The Florida Supreme Court ruled 6-1 on Wednesday, June 10, that it lacks jurisdiction to intervene while the redistricting lawsuit is still pending before the First District Court of Appeal, and declined to use its "all writs" power to grant a temporary injunction against using the mid-decade congressional map that the Florida legislature passed in April that could shift the state’s delegation from a 20–8 Republican advantage to a potential 24–4 split. The ruling came after plaintiffs, the Equal Ground Education Fund, represented by the Elias Law Group, had filed a motion on May 28 to bypass the First District Court…

Florida, Redistricting LitigationFlorida, lawindepth, mid-decade redistricting

The Battle Over Colorado’s Congressional Map Will Be Decided by Voters

By EditorJun 12, 2026

Colorado's redistricting story in the post-2020 era unfolds in two distinct chapters. The first covers the state's post-census redistricting process, conducted entirely by citizen commissions established by voters in 2018, and the legal challenges that followed. The second, still unfolding, covers the state's response to the nationwide mid-decade redistricting wars launched in 2025, which have drawn Colorado into a contested ballot measure fight that will ultimately be decided by voters in November 2026. Together, the two chapters illustrate both how Colorado's independent redistricting architecture has insulated it from the partisan map-drawing that has roiled other states and the limits of…

Colorado, Strategy and Politicscolorado, policyindepth

New York Lawmakers Approve Amendment Allowing Mid-Decade Redistricting and Partisan Map-Drawing

By EditorJun 09, 2026

The New York State Legislature passed a sweeping constitutional amendment on June 3, 2026 (S.10637-A/A.11553) that would significantly restructure how the state draws congressional and state legislative district lines. The amendment passed both chambers on party-line votes, with Democrats in the majority supporting it and Republicans unanimously opposed. Introduced jointly on June 1 by the Senate Majority Leader and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the amendment amends Sections 4 and 5-b of Article III of the New York State Constitution and adds a new Section 5-c. Among its most significant provisions it: explicitly permits mid-decade congressional redistricting; replaces the supermajority threshold…

New York, State Lawsmid-decade redistricting, new york, policyindepth

Supreme Court’s Emergency Order Restores Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map

By EditorJun 04, 2026

The Supreme Court on Tuesday night allowed Alabama to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year's elections, blocking a lower court ruling that the map intentionally discriminates against Black voters. The justices granted the state's emergency appeal to use a map it adopted in 2023 that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts. The three liberal justices dissented. The ruling takes effect immediately, meaning Alabama will use its 2023 map for its August 11 special primary elections covering the affected congressional districts. Unlike many shadow docket orders, the majority provided some explanation in…

Redistricting LitigationAlabama, caseupdates, Latest, mid-decade redistricting

Louisiana Enacts New Congressional Map Into Law, Eliminating One Majority-Black District

By EditorMay 29, 2026

Louisiana legislators gave their final approval Friday to Senate Bill 121, a congressional redistricting map that eliminates one of the state's two majority-Black districts and gives Republicans a probable additional U.S. House seat ahead of the November midterms. The state Senate approved the final version 28-10 on party lines after the House had passed it 66-36 the day prior. The new map redraws Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields' 6th District, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana, while adding part of Baton Rouge to the majority-Black 2nd District based in New Orleans, currently represented…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Louisianalouisiana, mid-decade redistricting, policyindepth