Assessing the Legal Environment: One of the first steps for any state or local jurisdiction preparing to redistrict is to make a thorough review of the state, federal and any local laws that may apply to redistricting. This step is important because much of the law affecting redistricting is interpreted by the Supreme Court, lower federal district courts and state courts. Significant federal legal developments have occurred in each decade since redistricting became a legal requirement in the mid-sixties. States often change statutory provisions as well, and state courts’ interpretations must be considered on an ongoing basis. Understandably, if redistricting only happens once every decade, many legal developments may have been made that would change how line-drawers operate going forward.

Staff, Support, Supplies and Equipment: After assessing the legal environment most jurisdictions must assess its personnel and equipment needs to support the entity that will be in charge of the line-drawing. In some cases, jurisdictions maintain a dedicated staff and resources for redistricting, usually embedded within a GIS or legislative data unit. Even when this is the case however, preparing for redistricting usually means updated software, hardware and additional staff at minimum.

Committee, Commission Member Selection: While some jurisdictions maintain a permanent legislative redistricting committee, most form a committee and appoint members each decade. In the case of independent commissions or other separate redistricting entities, these are formed at some time prior to line-drawing, which begins once the Census Bureau releases the census population data needed for redistricting. This usually happens in the Spring of the year after the decennial census.

Population Data and the Malapportionment Map: Once census population data is received by states it is used to view maps of the current districts. In many cases, these maps will understandably show large variations in population between individual districts – a condition that redistricting is designed to correct. This so-called “malapportioned” map shows just how impactful the population deviations are in current districts. Malapportionment can be measured in two ways: First, a malapportioned map will show how many districts are above or below the calculated ideal population; and Second, the map will show for any given district how its deviation from the ideal compares with the deviations in other districts.