Missouri Judge Blocks Redistricting Referendum From November Ballot. Appeal Filed

Missouri Judge Blocks Redistricting Referendum From November Ballot. Appeal Filed

By EditorAug 21, 20260 Comments
A Missouri judge has ruled that the state's congressional map cannot be put to a referendum vote. On August 19, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green upheld Secretary of State Denny Hoskins' refusal to place the referendum on the November ballot, found Hoskins' decision lawful, and ordered that the 2025 map "remain in full force and effect for the 2026 general election." Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the map into law on September 28, 2025, after calling the Republican-led General Assembly into a special session in response to President Trump's request that GOP-controlled states redraw their congressional boundaries before the midterms.…
Redistricting, , , , ,
Read More
Galveston County, TX: A Local Redistricting Case With National Reach

Galveston County, TX: A Local Redistricting Case With National Reach

By EditorAug 21, 20260 Comments
The litigation over Galveston County's precinct maps - the term Texas law uses for county commissioner, justice of the peace, and constable districts - is closely watched for its implications for voting rights law, in particular the viability of minority coalition claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In addition, claims of intentional discrimination and racial gerrymandering under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments remain pending in federal court, and separate litigation over a new map the county adopted in June 2026 is proceeding in state court. A summary of the litigation thus far is below. Galveston County voters…
Texas, , , ,
Read More
Draft Census Rule Would Affect Apportionment and Block-Level Race Data

Draft Census Rule Would Affect Apportionment and Block-Level Race Data

By EditorAug 16, 20260 Comments
A draft federal rule circulating within the Trump administration would change both who the census counts for congressional apportionment and what the census is permitted to ask. The document proposes two independent regulations: one narrowing the definition of "usual residence" so that foreign citizens other than lawful permanent residents, approved asylees, and approved refugees would not be counted for apportionment, and one barring questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation from the census questionnaire. It is important to note that the draft is marked predecisional, and does not purport to be final. The rule has not been published in the…
Census Law, DATA and TECHNOLOGY, , , , , ,
Read More
Missouri Secretary of State Rejects Redistricting Referendum on Constitutional Grounds

Missouri Secretary of State Rejects Redistricting Referendum on Constitutional Grounds

By EditorAug 06, 20260 Comments
The referendum fight that loomed over Missouri's congressional map for months came to a head on August 4, 2026, when Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to certify the referendum petition, declaring it unconstitutional a few hours before polls closed in the state's primary election. Hoskins refused to tell reporters whether the petition contained enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, saying the count was irrelevant because the Missouri Constitution does not permit a referendum on redistricting. "Whether they had one signature or 500 million signatures doesn't really matter because they are unconstitutional," Hoskins said, noting that the…
Missouri, , , ,
Read More
Federal Court Panel Clears Tennessee Congressional Map for the 2026 Primaries

Federal Court Panel Clears Tennessee Congressional Map for the 2026 Primaries

By EditorJul 26, 20260 Comments
A three-judge federal panel denied the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction in Sherman v. Hargett, allowing Tennessee's redrawn map, which splits majority-Black Memphis into three districts, to be used in the August 6 primary. The panel, composed of two Trump-appointed judges and one Obama appointee, concluded the evidence pointed to partisan politics rather than race as the driving force, writing that plaintiffs "haven't presented meaningful evidence that race, not politics, motivated Tennessee's May 2026 map." The per curiam opinion also cited the Purcell principle, stating "the public is better served by a map created by its elected representatives, not…
Tennessee, ,
Read More
The 2030 LUCA Schedule: Key Dates for Tribal, State, and Local Governments

The 2030 LUCA Schedule: Key Dates for Tribal, State, and Local Governments

By EditorJul 21, 2026
The Census Bureau has published a schedule for the 2030 Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA), the process by which tribal, state, and local governments review and comment on the Census Address List for their jurisdictions before the 2030 Census. The Bureau relies on a complete and accurate address list to reach every living quarter and its associated population for inclusion in the decennial census, and LUCA is the mechanism that brings local review into that list. A review begins with a government comparing the Census Bureau's Address Count Listing File for its area (also called a block count list),…
Census Data and Geography, Local Redistricting, ,
Read More
The BBSP Deadline Passed. Now What? A Guide for Local Officials

The BBSP Deadline Passed. Now What? A Guide for Local Officials

By EditorJul 18, 2026
The Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP) exists so that states can identify non-standard features often used as electoral boundaries (power lines, property lines, or streams) that could serve alongside more traditional features (such as street centerlines) as census tabulation block boundaries. States, through their official liaisons, may also identify features that are not desirable as block boundaries. In addition, legal boundaries reviewed in coordination with the annual Boundary and Annexation Survey also become census tabulation block boundaries. Where no suggestions are submitted, local precinct boundaries following features the Bureau does not already carry are unlikely to appear as census block…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , ,
Read More
The Boundary Annexation Survey (BAS) Submission Checklist for Local Governments

The Boundary Annexation Survey (BAS) Submission Checklist for Local Governments

By EditorJul 14, 2026
The Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) is the Census Bureau's annual check-in with local government on where its legal boundaries actually are. Each year the Bureau contacts federally recognized American Indian areas, counties and county equivalents, incorporated places, and minor civil divisions, asking each to confirm that the Bureau has the correct boundary, name, and status for that government. The public and data users rely on the annual BAS boundaries as the official federal representation of boundaries for legal governments. The Census Bureau maintains this data in its MAF/TIGER System and publishes the results through the annual TIGER/Line release. For…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Local Redistricting, , ,
Read More
8th Circuit Reverses Its Ruling on Native American Minority District Post Callais

8th Circuit Reverses Its Ruling on Native American Minority District Post Callais

By EditorJul 11, 2026
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Tuesday, July 7, to reverse a 2023 legal victory by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Nation, in which a federal district court judge had concluded that North Dakota's state legislative map unlawfully diluted Native American voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case has a long procedural history. In 2023, the U.S. District Court sided with the tribes and ordered a remedial map, which was used in the 2024 elections, resulting in three tribal members being elected to…
Redistricting, , , ,
Read More
Maryland Officials Announce Special Session on Redistricting in August

Maryland Officials Announce Special Session on Redistricting in August

By EditorJul 11, 2026
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,…
Maryland, ,
Read More