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

By EditorJul 21, 20260 Comments

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 Redistrictinglocal-admin, LUCA, U.S. Census Bureau

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

By EditorJul 14, 20260 Comments

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 RedistrictingBAS, dataindepth, local-admin, U.S. Census Bureau

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

By EditorJul 11, 20260 Comments

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…

RedistrictingLatest, lawindepth, News, North Dakota, Voting Rights Act

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

A Prep Checklist for Election Offices Before the Census Bureau’s 2028 Voting District Project Begins

By EditorJul 10, 20260 Comments

The U.S. Census Bureau's Voting District Project (VTDP) will give state liaisons the opportunity to submit and verify their voting districts, the Bureau's generic term for precincts, election districts, wards, and similar areas, for inclusion in the 2030 Census Redistricting Data products. Program submissions come only from the official state liaison, so local election and GIS offices take part by being designated as technical liaisons or by routing their data through the liaison. The quality of a state's submission depends on groundwork done locally, and the most useful steps can be taken well before the cycle opens in early 2028.…

Local Redistrictinglocal-admin, U.S. Census Bureau, vtdp

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, 2026

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, 2026

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, local-news, Mississippi

Official vs. Technical Liaisons: Who Can Actually Submit in the Voting District Project

By EditorJun 24, 2026

The Census Bureau runs the Redistricting Data Program through a single official nonpartisan liaison in each state, jointly identified by the governor and the legislative leaders responsible for redistricting. That liaison manages the geographic updates submitted in each phase and reviews and approves them before the Bureau loads them into its MAF/TIGER database. Program submissions are accepted only from the official liaison, but that does not exclude local expertise from the process. The official liaison may designate technical liaisons - for example, county GIS staff - who can perform geographic updates and submit completed work to the Census Bureau on…

Local Redistrictinglocal-admin, U.S. Census Bureau, vtdp

Are your Precincts “Actual” or “Pseudo”? What Local Officials Should Know about the Census Bureau’s Voting District Program

By EditorJun 19, 2026

The Census Bureau tabulates population by census geography ( ie., census blocks, tracts, counties), not by the precincts and wards that election offices actually run. Without a way to bridge that gap, states would receive decennial population counts that could not be readily matched to their own election geography. The Voting District Project (VTDP) is that bridge: once each decade, as Phase 2 of the Redistricting Data Program, the Census Bureau invites each state to submit its voting districts - its generic term for precincts, election districts, and wards - so that population data can be tabulated for those areas…

Local Redistrictinglocal-admin, U.S. Census Bureau, vtdp