Official Redistricting Entities

Virginia Beach Court Voids Single-Member District Plan on a Technicality

By EditorJul 02, 2025

A Virginia Beach Circuit Court has struck down the city’s 10-district, “10-1” council-and-mayor voting plan, because the city passed the rule change by simple ordinance rather than securing the charter change the state constitution requires. The court's ruling leaves the 2022 and 2024 election outcomes untouched, but bars use of the district map going forward unless the General Assembly (which passed a charter-amendment bill in 2024, but was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin) or city voters cure the defect. The City Council has already scheduled a November referendum asking residents whether to keep the 10 single-member districts or revert to…

Local RedistrictingVirginia

Tarrant County Commissioners Seek to Defend its Commissioner District Map Against Voting Rights Act and 14th Amendment Claims

By EditorJun 30, 2025

Tarrant County, Texas's Republican-led Commissioners Court is poised to vote on a new $250,000 contract with the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) so that the firm can defend the county against a federal lawsuit filed June 4 by Black and Latino voters claiming the new commissioner map dilutes Black and Latino voting strength. PILF received a $30,000 consulting fee in April to help design the map, which ultimately gives white, non-Hispanic residents, now less than half of the county’s population, majorities in three of four commissioner precincts. Read more at keranews.org Find us on:

An Overview of Local Redistricting

By EditorJun 29, 2025

The local redistricting process, where counties, cities, school boards, and special districts redraw their geographic boundaries, shares many of the same legal and procedural frameworks as state‐level redistricting but operates at a far more granular scale. Below is an in‐depth look at how local redistricting unfolds, key hurdles jurisdictions face, proven best practices, a general timeline, and how these local efforts differ from statewide map‐drawing. Overview of Local Redistricting Any elected body based on districts, such as county boards, city councils, school boards, utility districts, even some judicial and special‐purpose bodies, must periodically redraw lines so that each district remains…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Local RedistrictingBASICS

Review: Local Election Official’s Guide to Redistricting

By EditorJun 29, 2025

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission's (EAC) Local Election Officials’ Guide to Redistricting serves as a practical roadmap for local jurisdictions drawing new district boundaries after each decennial census. Aimed squarely at election administrators, who may lack dedicated redistricting staff, the guide walks readers step by step through the legal requirements, data management needs, public‐engagement obligations, map‐drawing techniques, and the implementation tasks needed to complete a redistricting map. At the heart of the guide is a discussion of the legal framework governing redistricting. It reiterates constitutional mandates for equal representation (“one person, one vote”) and underscores compliance with both Section 2…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Local RedistrictingBASICS, guides

From Polk to Johnson: Iowa’s Quiet Redistricting Revolution at the County Level

By EditorMar 01, 2025

Iowa’s 2020-cycle state maps drew the headlines, but the past four years have also reshaped local power centers across the state. Polk County, home to Des Moines and more than half a million residents, used the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) for the first time to redraw its five Board of Supervisors districts. Draft lines released in February 2022 paired two long-time incumbents and, according to one UVA analysis, created two genuine toss-up seats, raising the prospect of the county’s first GOP majority in decades. Public hearings that spring highlighted concern over Des Moines high-school clusters and partisan balance, but supervisors…

Iowa, Local RedistrictingIowa, STATENEWS

Campaign Legal Center Issues a Performance Review of Redistricting Commissions during the 2021 Cycle

By EditorJul 03, 2024

On June 26, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released a report evaluating the performance of various redistricting commissions in the 2021 redistricting cycle. According to CLC, it was "based on an in-depth review of the laws and procedures that governed commissions in each state, as well as an assessment of each commission’s redistricting process. The report presents a number of case studies from the 2021 cycle, which summarize how particular commissions functioned in practice and distills general principles that can be drawn from each commission’s experience." Read the report titled "Redistricting Commissions in the 2021 Redistricting Cycle." Find us on:

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NY Court Orders Redistricting Commission to Draw a “Second” Congressional Map

By EditorJul 13, 2023

Today New York's Supreme Court, Appellate Division directed the state's Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) to submit a second congressional map to comply with the NY State Constitution. This decision (with 2 of 5 judges on the panel dissenting) will likely be appealed to the state's highest court. A state court has already required the IRC to draw and submit a second state house map after its initial failure to agree on any state redistricting map in January of 2022. Read the court's opinion here. From the court opinion: "The IRC had an indisputable duty under the NY Constitution to submit…

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Briefs Filed in Litigation to Redraw New York’s Congressional Map

By EditorApr 10, 2023

Last week, briefs were filed in a case brought by a group of voters to redraw New York's current congressional map. The state used a map drawn by a court special master to conduct the 2022 election after a map drawn by the legislature was deemed a partisan gerrymander. The New York legislature had only passed its map after a newly established independent redistricting commission (NYIRC), deadlocked on maps in January of 2022. Now the question is whether the legislature, the commission, or both can have another go at it. A trial court in September of 2022 unequivocally answered "no"…

Case Updates, NEWS, Official Redistricting Entities, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting LitigationIndependent Redistricting Commission, lawindepth, new york, nyirc, policyindepth, redistricting commissions, STATENEWS

OH Supreme Court Rejects Ohio Commission Maps for a 2nd Time. Describes Their Efforts as “Misguided.”

By EditorFeb 07, 2022

The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday rejected a 2nd revised map of state Senate and House districts drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The first map was invalidated by the court on Jan 12. The latest maps, adopted by the commission on Jan. 22nd, still violate state constitutional provisions prohibiting maps that favor any one political party according to the court. The commission must adopt a 3rd plan and file it with the court by February 18, 2022. Read the order here. The court interprets the state constitution's proportionality standard to mean that any map should reflect the average voting…

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Watch: New York Redistricting Commission Deadlocks on Maps

By EditorJan 04, 2022

The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission met on Monday, Jan 3, but could not come to a consensus on any redistricting map. The members split 5-5 on votes for congressional, state senate, and state house maps. Instead, the commission sent two versions of each to the state legislature for consideration. The meeting was contentious at times. Watch the meeting below. The legislature must adopt one of the commission's maps by a two-thirds vote, if they do not adopt a map the commission will get a second chance at recommending a set of maps by a Feb. 28, 2022 deadline.…

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