Michigan Launches Anti-Gerrymandering Campaign on Four Fronts

Michigan Launches Anti-Gerrymandering Campaign on Four Fronts

By EditorApr 20, 2017
Michigan -  The Voters Not Politicians Ballot Committee is looking to end partisan gerrymandering in the state for good.  The group, including Wayne State University political science professor Kevin Deegan-Krause, will be heading up a good government initiative to end gerrymandering using (1) a ballot initiative; (2) legislation introduced in the state legislature; (3) a lawsuit claiming partisan gerrymandering that is patterned after the pending Wisconsin lawsuit; and (4) a partnership with the Democratic party's newly formed initiative to counter ongoing Republican electoral dominance via redistricting.  Read more here.
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORM, , ,
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Redistrictingonline Monthly Redistricting Update (March 2017)

Redistrictingonline Monthly Redistricting Update (March 2017)

By EditorApr 04, 2017
Politics Roll Call interviews National Democratic Redistricting Committee Executive Director Kelly Ward about its strategy going into 2020: Watch: Inside the Democrat Party’s National Redistricting Strategy   In-Depth Late in 2016, PBS’s American Law Journal gave an in-depth treatment of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania.  Hosts interview lawmakers, review the technology behind redistricting and cover reform efforts: Watch: PBS Covers Pennsylvania Gerrymandering and Reform In-Depth Litigation Six years in the making, a federal district court panel released its opinion late last month in the long arduous litigation we call Texas Redistricting.  We explain what that means and survey the news coverage in  Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by…
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Georgia’s Mid-Decade Redistricting Causes a Stir

Georgia’s Mid-Decade Redistricting Causes a Stir

By EditorMar 20, 2017
Georgia - Traditionally reserved for the beginning of the decade, redistricting is on the table again in Georgia as a proposal for new House districts has cleared that chamber and is being considered in the Georgia senate.  As a practical matter, redistricting usually only happens once in a decade.  Although, in most states there is no law that would limit it to that, the task is such a delicate, complex and highly controversial one that most do not dare to go through it any more than they have to. Georgia's republican controlled legislature has got the attention of former attorney general Eric Holder,…
NEWS, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Strategy and Politics, , , , , ,
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Court Sides with Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

Court Sides with Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

By EditorMar 19, 2017
Maricopa County, Arizona - A Superior Court judge has rejected the remaining challenges against the work of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.  Plaintiffs had challenged the commission's process and accused the commission of violating state open meeting laws.  The Supreme Court ruled in the commission's favor in June of 2015.  There is no word yet on an appeal.
Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, , ,
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Texas Attorney General’s Statement on Redistricting Court Ruling

By EditorMar 17, 2017
Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released this statement on Monday regarding a federal district court panel's 2-1 ruling that finds several congressional districts drawn by the Texas legislature to be unconstitutional.  Click here for more analysis of the case: “We respectfully disagree with the redistricting panel’s majority decision.  As Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith observed in his dissent, the challenge to the old 2011 maps - which were never in effect - is moot.  The maps currently in use are not the ones adopted by the Texas Legislature in 2011, which are the subject of the court’s opinion. …
Redistricting,
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What’s Next in Texas Redistricting

What’s Next in Texas Redistricting

By EditorMar 17, 2017
On March 10th a federal district court panel in San Antonio Texas ruled that the State legislature’s 2011 congressional redistricting map was drawn in manner that violated the U.S. constitution.  The court found several districts in the map were the product of intentional racial discrimination and minority vote dilution.  While the ruling was a surprise, considering the case had been drawn out for nearly six years, it was also slightly anti-climactic since the ruling referred to a map that Texas no longer uses as its congressional districts.  The court had drawn an interim map in 2012 after finding that some…
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race Rules, , , , , , ,
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