Redistricting Functions

Louisiana Enacts New Congressional Map Into Law, Eliminating One Majority-Black District

By EditorMay 29, 20260 Comments

Louisiana legislators gave their final approval Friday to Senate Bill 121, a congressional redistricting map that eliminates one of the state's two majority-Black districts and gives Republicans a probable additional U.S. House seat ahead of the November midterms. The state Senate approved the final version 28-10 on party lines after the House had passed it 66-36 the day prior. The new map redraws Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields' 6th District, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana, while adding part of Baton Rouge to the majority-Black 2nd District based in New Orleans, currently represented…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Louisianalouisiana, mid-decade redistricting, policyindepth

Virginia’s Redistricting Ordeal: A Brief Summary

By EditorMay 26, 20260 Comments

Virginia's Post-2020 Redistricting: From Commission to Courtroom When Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2020 establishing a bipartisan redistricting commission, it was widely seen as a model reform, a deliberate step away from partisan map-drawing toward a process governed by eight lawmakers and eight citizens working together. That promise quickly ran into reality: the commission deadlocked along partisan lines and missed its November 2021 deadline without producing a congressional map. The Virginia Supreme Court stepped in, appointed two special masters, one drawn from each party's nominees, and approved the resulting congressional map on December 28, 2021. That court-drawn…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Virginiapolicyindepth, Virginia

Why the 2030 Census LUCA Program Matters to Redistricting and GIS Staff

By EditorMay 16, 20260 Comments

Most redistricting discussions focus on the maps, who draws them, what criteria they must meet, and how they will hold up in court. But every redistricting map built from 2030 Census data will ultimately rest on a foundation that GIS and redistricting staff rarely talk about: the Census Bureau's residential address list. The Local Update of Census Addresses operation is the first to occur in every decennial census cycle, and it gives state, tribal, and local governments their only opportunity to directly help ensure an accurate enumeration by reviewing and submitting updates or corrections to the confidential address list before…

Census Data and Geographydataindepth, localpage, LUCA, U.S. Census Bureau

Five Census Bureau Tools Every Local Election Official Should Bookmark

By EditorMay 15, 20260 Comments

The Census Bureau offers a growing suite of free, browser-based tools that are directly useful for local election administration and redistricting work, and most officials don't know they exist. All five tools are free, require no account or login, and are updated regularly with the latest ACS and decennial census data. QuickFacts: The first stop for any local official should be QuickFacts, which delivers instant demographic snapshots; population, age, race, income, housing, etc., for any county, city, or town in the country with no data expertise required. TigerWeb: Next is TIGERweb, the Census Bureau's interactive boundary map viewer. TIGERweb allows users to…

Census Data and Geographydataindepth, localpage

What Is a Shapefile and Why Do You Need One for Redistricting?

By EditorMay 14, 20260 Comments

If you have spent any time around redistricting software or GIS professionals, you have probably heard the term "shapefile" and possibly nodded along without knowing what it means. A shapefile is a digital file format that stores the geographic boundaries of a defined area as a map layer. Think of it as the outline of a jurisdiction, your city limits, your county boundaries, your voting precincts, your census tracts, all saved in a format that mapping software can read, display, and analyze. TIGER boundary files are shapefiles from the Census Bureau that are important for drawing legally compliant district maps.…

Census Data and Geographylocalpage

SCOTUS Denies Emergency Request to Block California Map Over Racial Gerrymandering Claims

By EditorFeb 04, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for California to implement a new congressional map for the upcoming midterm elections, denying an emergency request from state Republicans to block its use. Enacted through the voter-approved Proposition 50, which passed by a two-to-one margin in November, the plan is projected to help Democrats secure five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although the California GOP and the Trump administration argued the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, a lower federal court previously ruled that the evidence of racial motivation was "exceptionally weak" compared to the "overwhelming" evidence of…

California, Case UpdatesCalifornia, mid-decade redistricting, Prop 50

Virginia Mid-Decade Redistricting Update

By EditorFeb 01, 2026

Virginia’s mid-decade congressional map effort was halted by a Tazewell County circuit judge who said lawmakers didn’t follow the basic procedural rules for putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The state legislature's bid to install a new congressional map by constitutional amendment advanced in late October when the General Assembly, meeting in special session, approved a measure to permit enactment of a mid-decade redistricting congressional map effective for the 2026 mid-term election. A second passage was required in the 2026 session before the map could go to a voter referendum, which was completed on January 16. Republicans in Virginia…

Case Updateslawindepth, mid-decade redistricting, Virginia

Utah Court Clears the Path for Appellate Review of Congressional Map Decision After No Appeal is Filed

By EditorJan 02, 2026

Third District Judge Dianna Gibson has issued a Rule 54(b) certification, specifically granting the Utah Legislature permission to immediately appeal her Aug. 25 ruling to the state Supreme Court. This specific ruling preliminarily voided Utah’s 2021 congressional map and blocked SB200, a law that repealed a 2018 voter-approved initiative (Proposition 4) designed to ban partisan gerrymandering. While Gibson agreed that the public interest is served by a faster resolution, she scolded the Legislature’s attorneys for failing to appeal sooner, noting they offered "no legitimate explanation" for ignoring previous opportunities to challenge her orders over the preceding four months. The outcome…

Partisan Gerrymanderinglawindepth, partisan gerrymandering, Utah

Why the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Matters for Local Redistricting Officials

By EditorDec 15, 2025

Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau invites tribal, state, and general-purpose local governments, counties, cities, towns, and minor civil divisions to verify that its legal-boundary file is still accurate. This verification program is the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). For local officials, keeping your boundaries current is not just cartographic housekeeping. BAS data feeds the American Community Survey, the Population Estimates Program, and the TIGER/Line layers that nearly all redistricting platforms rely on. Accurate boundary lines also protect your jurisdiction’s share of the roughly $2.8 trillion in annual federal funds that are allocated by geography. Who should participate and what’s…

Census Data and GeographyBAS, census data, dataindepth, localpage

Supreme Court Greenlights Texas Congressional Map for 2026

By EditorDec 06, 2025

Texas may use its new congressional plan for the 2026 elections after the Supreme Court granted the state’s emergency stay on Thursday, Dec. 4. In a short, unsigned order, the Court paused a three-judge district court’s Nov. 18 injunction that had barred the 2025 map and directed Texas back to its 2021 lines. Justice Samuel Alito had entered an administrative stay on Nov. 21 while the Court considered the application. The 5-paragraph order says Texas is likely to succeed because the lower court failed to presume legislative good faith and did not draw an adverse inference from the challengers’ failure…

Case Updates, Redistricting LitigationLatest, lawindepth, mid-decade redistricting, Texas, texas redistricting