Study: Partisan and Racial Representation Outcomes in the 2020 Redistricting Cycle

Study: Partisan and Racial Representation Outcomes in the 2020 Redistricting Cycle

By EditorOct 10, 2022
A recent article published in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, explores and measures partisan fairness, competitiveness, and minority representation in newly enacted redistricting maps across the states. A summary of the results is below. Read the article here. Christopher Warshaw (George Wash. Univ.), Eric McGhee, (Public Policy Institute of California) and Michal Migurski (Planscore.org, USA) are coauthors of this study and they describe their findings with this statement in their abstract: "We find that both parties have enacted increasingly extreme partisan gerrymanders when they control the redistricting process. The combination of Republicans’ control of the redistricting process in far more…
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New York Law School Launches Public Redistricting Mapping Project

New York Law School Launches Public Redistricting Mapping Project

By EditorOct 31, 2021
New York, NY (October 27, 2021) – New York Law School’s (NYLS) New York Census and Redistricting Institute has launched a statewide Public Mapping Redistricting Project to coincide with the 2021 state redistricting cycle. Student teams from New York’s higher education institutions have been invited to participate in drafting maps for New York’s congressional, state senate, and state assembly districts and submit them to the State. They will use free online software and data, along with specialized training, to draw model maps.  The Project, developed by NYLS Adjunct Professor and Director of the Census and Redistricting Institute Jeffrey M. Wice, kicked shortly after the release of…
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Census Bureau Delivers 2020 Census Redistricting Data in Easier-to-Use Format

Census Bureau Delivers 2020 Census Redistricting Data in Easier-to-Use Format

By EditorSep 16, 2021
SEPT. 16, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File to states and the public in an easier-to-use format.    These data are now available on data.census.gov. They are identical to those released Aug. 12 on the Census Bureau’s FTP site and in various data visualizations.   The Census Bureau has also delivered to states an easy-to-use toolkit of DVDs and flash drives with integrated browsing software to use in redrawing their congressional and state legislative district boundaries. Topics in both formats include 2020 Census population counts by race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data for counties, places, census tracts and blocks.…
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Census Bureau Announces “Early” Release Date for Easier-to-Use Formats for Redistricting Data

Census Bureau Announces “Early” Release Date for Easier-to-Use Formats for Redistricting Data

By EditorSep 01, 2021
Press Release SEPT. 1, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau will release easier-to-use formats of the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File on September 16. Also on September 16, redistricting data will be available through the Census Bureau’s primary data dissemination tool, data.census.gov. The Census Bureau will also deliver an easy-to-use toolkit of DVDs and flash drives to state officials and public bodies responsible for their state’s legislative apportionment or districting. These data — first released August 12 — are currently available in a legacy format on the Census Bureau’s FTP site. These data are also available through various data visualizations. More information, including links to the…
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Recent Census Data Developments Call into Question its Suitability for Redistricting

Recent Census Data Developments Call into Question its Suitability for Redistricting

By EditorAug 01, 2021
In the span of just a few days and just weeks before official census redistricting data is scheduled to be released, the Census Bureau reveals two rather startling revelations about the data. "Fuzzy Blocks" First, the Acting Census Director Ron Jarmin warned in the Director's Blog that the information in individual census blocks - the smallest and most detailed unit of data - will appear "fuzzy" and at times nonsensical due to the Bureau's application of privacy measures, and thus should not be used for building redistricting maps. Blocks are often used as the basic building blocks of redistricting maps…
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Union of Concerned Scientists Release Report on 2020 Census Data Accuracy

Union of Concerned Scientists Release Report on 2020 Census Data Accuracy

By EditorJul 30, 2021
Concerns about census data accuracy have lead experts to worry about "the potential undercounting of variousgroups in the country and how undercounts might affect federal funding allocation, redistricting efforts, and representation. The Union of Concerned Scientists released this report in July describing the possible effects that undercounting may have on specific populations. From the Report: ". . . worries include potential undercounting of Hispanic populations in many communities and of young children, as well as underestimates of population at the state level (Epstein and Medina 2021; O’Hare et al. 2020; Bahrampour,Rabinowitz, and Mellnik 2021). In this report, we seek to…
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Redistricting Data: What to Expect and When

Redistricting Data: What to Expect and When

By EditorJul 28, 2021
Director's Blog - BY DR. RON JARMIN, ACTING DIRECTOR: Since releasing the apportionment results in April, we’ve had several teams working hard on the next set of 2020 Census data — the redistricting data. These data play an important role in our democracy and will begin to illuminate the changes to the local and demographic makeup of our nation over the last decade. These data include the first sub-state population counts and demographic characteristics from the census, information that states typically use for redistricting — the process of redrawing electoral district boundaries based on where their populations have increased or…
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Resources Available to Prepare for the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Release

Resources Available to Prepare for the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Release

By EditorJul 28, 2021
Press Release- BY JAMES WHITEHORNE, CHIEF, REDISTRICTING DATA AND VOTING RIGHTS OFFICE: In a few weeks, we’ll release the 2020 Census redistricting data in our legacy summary file format. And a few weeks after that, we’ll release the same data in an easier-to-use format. We’re releasing the same data twice but in different formats at different times to make sure states get the data as quickly as possible. Acting Director Dr. Ron Jarmin explained these two releases in his blog, Redistricting Data: What to Expect and When. In this blog, I provide more detail about the formats and support materials available,…
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Census Bureau Moves Up Release of Demonstration Data to Coincide with August Redistricting Data Release

Census Bureau Moves Up Release of Demonstration Data to Coincide with August Redistricting Data Release

By EditorJul 23, 2021
Press Release (July 22, 2021): In response to stakeholder input about the value of earlier access to demonstration data that feature the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System’s chosen production settings, the Census Bureau is moving up the release date for the demonstration data to coincide with the release (by August 16) of the legacy-formatted redistricting data. We’ll announce the specific release date in the coming weeks. The Census Bureau released metrics for the chosen production settings July 1 (see newsletter). We understand, based on your feedback, that access to the demonstration data coincident to the initial redistricting data release will…
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