Panel Discusses Election Administration, Redistricting and Campaign Finance

By EditorFeb 06, 2019

On Thursday, January 31, a panel of professors and activists met to discuss the state of the American election system. Here is the description provided by the Hammer Forum of UCLA: . "The 2018 midterm elections revealed egregious voter suppression tactics and mismanagement of polling places but also slate of new reforms that eliminate barriers to voting for many Americans. Kathay Feng, California Common Cause executive director; Franita Tolson, USC Gould School of Law professor; Justin Levitt, Loyola Law School professor; and Michael Morley, Florida State University law professor, discuss the future of voting rights and election laws with moderator Rick Hasen, UC Irvine…

LATEST, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, SCHOLARSHIPelections, Franita Tolson, Justin Levitt, Kathay Feng, Michael Morley, Panel, policyindepth, Rick hasen, Voting Rights and Wrongs

Redistricting Reform Advocates Strategize at Gerrymandering Summit

By EditorJan 22, 2019

The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy hosted the "Terminate Gerrymandering Summit and Fair Maps Incubator " Conference earlier this month as part of an effort to take advantage of the momentum that independent redistricting commission movements have created across the country with several states passing ballot initiatives to create "California Style" commissions. . The project is the brainchild of former CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The institute on campus that bears his name hosted this event at which he was the keynote speaker. Schwarzenegger explains that he wants to "accelerate the fight, bringing together those who’ve won nonpartisan redistricting…

NEWS, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORM, Strategy and Politicspartisan gerrymandering, reform, USC

Federal Court Rejects a Citizenship Question for the 2020 Census

By EditorJan 15, 2019

A New York federal district court has rejected the administration's bid to place a citizenship question on the upcoming 2020 census. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which is the main defendant in the lawsuit, will most likely appeal this decision but this just deepens the legal, financial and operational challenges that the Census Bureau must endure just under 15 months away from the 2020 census, the data from which, states and local governments will use to redraw electoral lines. NPR lists the possible effects that the current government shutdown and this lawsuit will have on census 2020 planning here. Read…

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Watch: Briefing and Discussion on Redistricting and Voting at the Washington Foreign Press Center

By EditorNov 05, 2018

American University Professor David Lubin, discusses Redistricting and Election Laws at the Washington Foreign Press Center on November 1, 2018. (more…)

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORM, Strategy and PoliticsAmerican University, VIDEO

Listen to the NCSL Webinar on Recent Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decisions

By EditorJul 24, 2018

Last week the National Conference of State Legislatures hosted this webinar on the recent Supreme Court Partisan Gerrymandering decisions. You can watch/listen below. The discussion gives good insight into the current posture of the litigation in Wisconsin and Maryland and other states. (more…)

FEATURES, LAW, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Prepbenesik v Lamone, lawindepth, ncsl, partisan gerrymandering, Supreme Court, webinar, Whitford v Gill

Concerns about the Cyber-Security of the 2020 Census Elevate

By EditorJul 24, 2018

The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center has sent a signed letter to the Secretary of Commerce and the Acting Directer of the U.S. Census Bureau requesting assurances that the upcoming decennial census will be accurate and secure given heightened threats in the cyber-security environment. (more…)

DATA and TECHNOLOGY, Redistricting2020, census, cyber-security, Redistricting News, U.S. Census Bureau

Michigan State Supreme Court Hears Argument on Commission Ballot Initiative

By EditorJul 24, 2018

Last week, the Michigan State Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that pits redistricting reform advocates at odds with opponents about whether to allow a proposal for an independent redistricting commission on the ballot this election year that would amount to a sweeping reform of the redistricting process if approved by Michigan voters. (more…)

LAW, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, REFORMballot initiative, MI, Michigan, oral argument, state supreme court, VIDEO

Video: A Neat Lesson on Less Obvious Gerrymanders

By EditorJul 23, 2018

People often often associate gerrymandering with "ugly," districts that have tortured boundaries, but many gerrymanders are quite pretty. This tutorial on gerrymandering by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project is one of the best visualizations of how gerrymandering can masquerade as a visually appealing map with compact districts. (more…)

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Leading Expert in Redistricting “Grofman,” Suggests a Path to Proving Partisan Gerrymandering

By EditorJul 09, 2018

Bernard Grofman, author, professor at the University of California at Irvine, and an expert witness in a multitude of redistricting cases, published this article in the Washington Post today. In it Grofman offers a way for courts to assess the level of partisan gerrymandering on a district-by-district basis when the challenge is based on the 14th amendment. His assessment is timely, given the Supreme Court's recent decision in Gill v. Whitford, which rejected challenges to a map as a whole. See our discussion of that here. Grofman points to the court's line of racial gerrymandering cases as a guide and…

Equal Protection, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting GerrymandersGrofman, legal, partisan gerrymandering

Supreme Court Rules on Texas Redistricting

By EditorJul 09, 2018

Texas - Abbott v. Perez This is the most protracted post-census 2010 litigation to date. The original case challenged the Texas legislatures’ 2011 redistricting maps, but the litigation now centers around a new set of congressional and state legislative maps that Texas adopted in 2013. These “new” maps are actually closely based on the maps that the federal district court overseeing the litigation drew as interim maps under the Supreme Court’s guidance after it determined the initial interim maps went beyond the limited purpose of correcting legal deficiencies in the 2011 maps. . The issue before the Supreme Court this…

Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting LitigationAbbott, Supreme Court, Texas, texas redistricting