Local Redistricting

Callais Comes to County Government: Federal Judge Applies New VRA Standard to Mississippi Local Map

By EditorJun 25, 20260 Comments

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, localpage, Mississippi

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:

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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…

Local RedistrictingBASICS, localpage

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

Fort Worth, Texas Redistricting Task Force presents final recommendations

By EditorJul 24, 2021

A City Council-appointed, 11-member Redistricting Task Force presented its proposed redistricting criteria as part of its final report in March. Read the criteria here.

Local Redistricting, NEWSlocal redistricting, TX-local

Montgomery County Redistricting Commission Clarifies Use of “Draft Maps”

By EditorJul 24, 2021

Statement from Montgomery County's Commission on Redistricting Chair Cordier about redistricting maps and ongoing deliberations For Immediate Release: Friday, July 23, 2021 Rockville, Md., July 23, 2021—At the July 14 meeting of the Montgomery County Commission on Redistricting, the group reviewed and discussed different redistricting mapping tools. As part of these deliberations, examples of maps were displayed and shared with Commission members to illustrate different approaches to using these tools.Mariana Cordier, chair of the Commission on Redistricting, made the following statement on the ongoing work of the group and the maps used as examples at the last meeting."At the sixth…

Local Redistricting, NEWS, RedistrictingMD-Local

Study: Census Bureau’s Differential Privacy Disclosure Avoidance System Produces Concerning Results for Local Jurisdictions

By EditorMar 31, 2021

Recent research into the effect of differential privacy (DP) on Alaska's census data show concerning results, especially for small area geographies such as townships, municipalities and other local jurisdictions. The authors of the study, a summary of which is posted in the blog for the Population Association of America, warn that local redistricting and other activities connected to census data could be substantially impacted by the Census Bureau's application of differential privacy on raw census data. The authors of the study, David Swanson, Professor Emeritus, Sociology at the University of California - Riverside, T.M. Bryan of Bryan Demographic Research, Richmond,…

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Pomona, CA Seeks Residents to Serve on its Independent Redistricting Commission

By EditorMar 23, 2021

Pomona, California is seeking 7 residents to serve as commissioners on an independent redistricting panel. Review the requirements here. Pomona City Council Seeks Pomona Residents Interested in Serving on the:Independent Redistricting CommissionPOMONA, CA (March 22, 2021) – If you have a strong interest in the community andyou have the ability to give generously of your time, why not apply to serve on theIndependent Redistricting Commission. Commissioners have an opportunity to makea difference in the community by providing recommendations to the City Council.Commissioners serve on a volunteer basis and are appointed by the City Council.Anyone who is a resident of Pomona…

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