State Redistricting Policy & Practice in-depth
State redistricting rules, criteria, process, deadlines, prisoner reallocation policy.
National Citizen Redistricting Commissioners Conference Panel: Increasing State and Local IRCs
On December 11-12, 2023, Common Cause brought together redistricting commissioners from across the country to exchange ideas about the critical work of drawing America's voting maps. The conference created space for conversations about the key ingredients for successful independent redistricting and the path to fair representation in 2030.
Rick Hasen with Larry Mantle | America at a Crossroads
How challenges to the Voting Rights Act could reshape the political landscape
Legal challenges surrounding voting rights in multiple states could alter the nation’s political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections. Georgia is redrawing its congressional maps after a judge ruled current maps dilute the power of Black voters. And another ruling could roll back decades of enforcement that protected minority representation. Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Janai Nelson.
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Citizen v. Legislature-Led Reapportionment: Current Research on Redistricting Legislative Boundaries
Following the 2020 census, states redrew legislative districts. In Michigan and California, independent citizen commissions took on drafting and approving new election maps. How did this independent citizen commission approach compare to redistricting done by state legislatures? As promised by proponents of independent citizen commissions, did it make elections fairer, prevent gerrymandering, and improve representation for minority populations? Leading academics on this topic will join us to discuss the latest research.
Panelists:
Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson is Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University and is the State Oversight Academy’s Academic Director.
Sara Sadhwani is Assistant Professor of Politics at Pomona College and served on the Citizens Redistricting Commission for the State of California.
Christian Grose is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at University of Southern California and Academic Director of USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy.
Moderated by the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy's Ben Eikey.
State Policy News and Updates
To monitor redistricting in your state, use the State Redistricting Almanac
CA League of Women Voters and Common Cause Release Report & Recommendations for 2030 Redistricting Commission
The California League of Women Voters and Common Cause CA released a report recently summarizing the 2020 redistricting process with ... Read More
Analysis of Proposed Legislative Redistricting Plans submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Marquette University Law School)
In late December 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court invalidated the state legislative maps it had approved in 2022. The court's ... Read More
Watch: Former Chief Senate Legal Counsel Discusses the Status of Ohio’s Redistricting Map Saga on “The State of Ohio” Program
Last Friday, The State of Ohio weekly news program discussed gerrymandering reform and the status of redistricting maps in the ... Read More
Update: Status of New York Redistricting Maps. June 2023
New York's post-2020 census redistricting continues to be contentious. Here is an update on the legal status of the congressional ... Read More
Read: NCSL Report and Recommendations on State Inmate Reallocation Efforts During the 2020 Redistricting Cycle.
The number of states that reallocate (reassign) prisoners/inmates for redistricting has grown from just 2 during the 2010 redistricting cycle ... Read More
Briefs Filed in Litigation to Redraw New York’s Congressional Map
Last week, briefs were filed in a case brought by a group of voters to redraw New York's current congressional ... Read More
Redistricting Notes: New Map Challenge Brewing in WI. Boston Map Challenge in Hands of Federal Judge.
Wisconsin: With a new liberal majority on the Wisconsin supreme court, at least one organization is planning to bring a ... Read More
A Flurry of Redistricting Activity Happened Over the Holidays. Here is a Recap
A Flurry of Redistricting Activity Happened Over the Holidays. Here is a Recap ... Read More
Policy Tools and Resources
Academic Resources
State Practices
- Utah redistricting: Despite cries of cracking communities, lawmakers select their own maps over independent ones (deseret.com)https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/11/8/22770759/utah-redistricting-lawmakers-select-own-maps-over-independent-ones-voter-districts-gerrymandering
- Up by Their Own Bootstraps: State Legislative Attempts to Bypass the Governor During RedistrictingAlbany Law Review: State Constitutional Commentary, Forthcoming: Review of Federal and state court decisions regarding past attempts by legislators of one party to circumvent their opponents by excluding them from the redistricting process. These efforts have largely failed, however, usually due to judicial intervention. Even when courts have taken an expanded view of a state […]
- Gerrymandered by Definition: The Distortion of "Traditional" Districting Criteria and a Proposal for Their Empirical Redefinition2021 Wisconsin Law Review 101: This Article proposes a definition of “traditional” districting criteria that would both reduce such abuse and adhere to a commonly understood meaning of that word: widely accepted as standard practice. Under this alternative, which we call the empirical definition, a criterion is “traditional” only if a majority of states require […]
- The Terminology of DistrictingWe seek to aid those interested in redistricting and gerrymandering by providing a glossary that identifies and defines (a) key geographic concepts related to districting, (b) forms of gerrymandering, (c) tools/techniques used to implement gerrymandering, and (d) metrics proposed to measure gerrymandering. Bernard Grofman University of California, Irvine - Department of Politics and Society Jonathan […]
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Dave Wasserman, Editor of the Cook Political Report
The Redistrict Network
Hansi Lo Wang (NPR)