Second Court Rewords Missouri Redistricting Ballot Amendment Language

Second Court Rewords Missouri Redistricting Ballot Amendment Language

By Michelle DavisSep 01, 2020
A county circuit court judge ruled earlier last month that the wording of a ballot measure authored by the Republican legislature was “misleading” in an effort to “entice” voters into repealing an anti-gerrymandering reform measure approved by voters in 2018. This week a Missouri Appeals Court affirmed the lower court ruling that the original ballot language was misleading but it reworded the circuit court’s rewrite as well. You can read all three versions below. The circuit court replaced the ballot summary language for Amendment 3 to make clear that if the measure is approved, it would reverse the 2018 measure.The…
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Understanding the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance Policy. A.K.A. “Differential Privacy”

Understanding the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance Policy. A.K.A. “Differential Privacy”

By Michelle DavisSep 01, 2020
The Census Bureau is mandated by the U.S. constitution to complete a count of the population every decade. Few realize however, that Title 13, Sec. 9 of the U.S. Code also requires the Bureau to "keep personally identifiable information confidential for 72 years." With the growth of Big Data, this privacy mandate has become a much more complicated task, thanks to "database reconstruction," a method of partially reconstructing a private dataset from public aggregate information. Consider the well-known example below of how one data scientist obtained former Governor William Weld's medical history from aggregate data released to the Massachusetts Group…
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Basics: California Citizens Redistricting Commission Selection Process

Basics: California Citizens Redistricting Commission Selection Process

By Michelle DavisSep 01, 2020
The California Citizen's Redistricting Commission (CRC) selected its final members for its 14-member body on August 7. CRC will redraw the lines for California's Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts, based on information gathered during the 2020 census. The CRC must draw the districts in conformity with strict, nonpartisan rules designed to create districts of relatively equal population. The CRC's selection process is a multi-layered one conducted by the State Auditor's Office. It designed to be a mostly nonpartisan, and partly random process in which eight members are selected initially. Those initial eight members must agree on…
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A “Listen” to the Seedy Underbelly of Redistricting

A “Listen” to the Seedy Underbelly of Redistricting

By Michelle DavisOct 02, 2019
In this Slate article published today, portions of a leaked audio recording of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2019 annual meeting in Austin, TX reveals the "bloodsport" that is redistricting. Presenters at this meeting reveal tactics to use for the courtroom, the media, political opponents and every other aspect of the "sport." Read more on Slate.com Discussing the inevitability of Litigation. (Slate.com, How to Get Away with Gerrymandering, Oct. 02, 2019)
NEWS, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Strategy and Politics
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Watch: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Voting Discrimination

Watch: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Voting Discrimination

By Michelle DavisSep 12, 2019
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 10:00am Location: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony regarding evidence of current and ongoing voting discrimination. Witnesses included: Mr. Derrick Johnson ,President and CEO, NAACP Ms. Vanita Gupta ,President and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel, Public Interest Legal Foundation Mr. Dale Ho, Director, Voting Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union Ms. Myrna Perez, Director, Voting Rights and Elections Program, Brennan Center for Justice Ms. Natalie A. Landreth, Senior Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund https://youtu.be/VoRQ6-CD7Yc?t=1837
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Second State Invalidates Redistricting Map Based on Common State Constitutional Provision

Second State Invalidates Redistricting Map Based on Common State Constitutional Provision

By Michelle DavisSep 05, 2019
September 5, 2019 “the Free Elections Clause of the North Carolina Constitution guarantees that all elections must be conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the People and that this is a fundamental right of North Carolina citizens, a compelling governmental interest, and a cornerstone of our democratic form of government.” These are the words of the three-judge panel in North Carolina's state trial court. Following Pennsylvania's lead in League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, which invalidated that state's congressional map - The North Carolina court gave legislative leaders until September 17th to…
FEATURES, LAW, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting Gerrymanders, State Laws, Uncategorized, , , , ,
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Do Independent Redistricting Commissions Produce Neutral Maps?

Do Independent Redistricting Commissions Produce Neutral Maps?

By Michelle DavisJul 02, 2019
After the Supreme Court's exit from the partisan gerrymandering business last week, the focus will likely turn to the states. The call for independent redistricting commissions will be key to any reform strategy. A group of government and political science professors provided some insight into the question of whether these commissions actually work to produce nonpartisan, or "less" partisan maps. Their preliminary evidence suggests that it does. "The nonpartisan-drawn maps tended to be more symmetrical on average after redistricting. In other words, they tended to treat both parties similarly. This suggests that nonpartisan bodies have successfully neutralized partisan bias, as…
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The Supreme Court’s Less Than Graceful Exit from the Thicket

By Michelle DavisJun 27, 2019
The long-awaited partisan gerrymandering decision has come down from the nation's highest court. A 5-4 majority decided to exit the "political thicket" and leave the policing of political gerrymandered redistricting maps to the States, commissions, congress; anybody, except the nine of them. Below are brief excerpts (with explanation) from the both the majority opinion and a passionate dissent from Justice Kagan in the consolidated cases of Lamone v. Benisek, ET Al. (Maryland) and Rucho v. Common Cause, ET Al. (North Carolina). Read the entire case here. The Court: Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal…
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Listen to Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

Listen to Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

By Michelle DavisApr 25, 2019
On March 26, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Benesik v. Lamone, a partisan gerrymandering case from Maryland. Click here for background on this case and its companion case, Rucho v. Common Cause (North Carolina). For a pre oral symposium hosted by SCOTUSBlog, click here. Click here to listen to oral argument for Rucho v. Common Cause.
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Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments in the North Carolina Partisan Gerrymandering Case

Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments in the North Carolina Partisan Gerrymandering Case

By Michelle DavisApr 25, 2019
On March 26, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Rucho v. Common Cause, a partisan gerrymandering case from North Carolina.Click here for background on this case and its companion case, Benesik v. Lamone (Maryland). For a pre oral symposium hosted by ScotusBlog, click here. Click here to listen to oral argument in its companion case, Benesik v. Lamone.
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