Time.com Article Lays Out the Case for Prison Gerrymandering Reform

By EditorJul 05, 2021

Prison Gerrymandering is more an act of omission than commission in that it occurs as a result of the redistricting process unless a jurisdiction acts to reverse it. In the 10 years between the 2010 and 2020 redistricting cycle, nearly a dozen states have committed to rectifying what many advocates say is a distortion in representational rights as a result of counting prisoners as residents of the electoral districts they are incarcerated in as opposed to the districts they resided in prior. Time.com offers this recent article that describes the issue in practical terms and makes the case for nationwide…

FEATURES, Redistricting, Redistricting PrisonersAnalysis, lpstatelaw, policyindepth, Prison gerrymandering, prisoner reallocation, prisoners

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signs bill ending prison gerrymandering

By EditorMay 29, 2021

Press release from the Prison Policy Initiative. Connecticut becomes the 11th state to end the practice of prison gerrymandering. May 27, 2021 For Immediate Release – Yesterday, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill ensuring that people in state prisons will hereafter be counted as residents of their home addresses when new legislative districts are drawn. The new law makes Connecticut the eleventh state to end the practice known as prison gerrymandering, after Illinois passed its own bill earlier this year. The national movement against prison gerrymandering began in 2001 when the founders of the Prison Policy Initiative discovered that the sheer size of…

NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Prisonerspolicyindepth, STATENEWS

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Fast-Track Future Redistricting Litigation

By EditorMay 17, 2021

The Wisconsin state supreme court declined on Friday, to include all redistricting cases in its original jurisdiction. The decision was in response to a petition by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty to fast-track redistricting litigation in the state by having that court conduct a full trial and devise remedies at the outset as opposed to just conducting an appellate review of lower court decisions. Read the court decision here. The court declined any blanket rule for redistricting challenges and instead indicated that it would decide on whether original jurisdiction applies on a case-by-case basis. "as drafted, the procedures…

Case Updates, Casedocs, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting LitigationCASEDOCS, policyindepth, Wisconsin

Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission Launches Online Public Comment Portal

By EditorMay 07, 2021

The portal allows users to submit written testimony, identified communities of interest, and plan maps for review by the commission. The portal was developed in collaboration with the MGGG Redistricting Lab at Tufts University. You can view the portal introductory video below. Go to the MICRC Portal https://youtu.be/FWfGrEQehUk

NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting CriteriaMichigan, policyindepth, STATENEWS

Oregon Supreme Court Establishes Revised Deadlines for Legislative Maps

By EditorApr 10, 2021

On Friday, the Oregon Supreme Court issued new deadlines for state legislative redistricting in light of the census redistricting data delay. The order extends state constitutional deadlines for legislative redistricting by three months. It does not address congressional redistricting in the state, which is governed by state statute. Read the opinion here. In its opinion and order, the court explained that the revised deadlines will enable the Legislative Assembly and the Secretary of State to fulfill their constitutional duties "without significantly affecting the rights of voters or interfering with the 2022 general election cycle." Practically speaking it observed that a…

Case Updates, Casedocs, Enacting a Redistricting Map, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigationenacting, IN-DEPTH, lpstatelaw, Oregon, policyindepth, STATENEWS

Reform: 2021 Gerrymandering Threat Index by Nonprofit Group “RepresentUs”

By EditorApr 07, 2021

RepresentUs, a nonprofit advocacy group, released an online app and 160-page Gerrymandering Threat Index report which measures each state's risk level for gerrymandering activity during the 2020 redistricting cycle. By its measure, 35 states have an extreme or high threat of gerrymandering or 70% of the nation, including over 188 million Americans. The index measures a state's likelihood that it will enact "gerrymandered" maps based on several factors including whether politicians draw maps, how transparent the process is, the robustness of legal criteria, the likelihood of partisan line-drawing, and how difficult maps are to challenge in court. Browse the risk…

Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymandersnational, policyindepth, reform, reformpage

NCSL Overview: Reallocating Incarcerated Persons for Redistricting

By EditorMar 17, 2021

In this recent article, the National Conference of State Legislatures gives an overview of the fairly recent practice of prisoner reallocation in redistricting. This process refers to counting prisoners at their home address for redistricting purposes instead of the prison's address - which is what the census does. Prisoner reallocation involves obtaining records from prison officials and careful adjustment of official census data files. This overview explains the practice and how it relates to representation. Since this article was first published, Illinois became the tenth state to mandate prisoner reallocation beginning in 2030. Feb. 18, 2021: States redistrict their legislative…

FEATURES, Redistricting, Redistricting PrisonersAnalysis, policyindepth, Prison gerrymandering, prisoner reallocation, prisoners

Here’s the Compressed 2021 Timeline for State Congressional Maps if Congress Passes HR1

By Jeffrey M. WiceMar 15, 2021

H.R. 1—the For the People Act—mandates significant changes to states’ congressional redistricting processes beginning with the post-2020 census redistricting in 2021. Under H.R. 1, a state’s congressional redistricting plan must be approved by a 15-member independent redistricting commission. The first six Commissioners are randomly chosen from a 36-member Selection Pool, and those six Commissioners then appoint the final nine. If a state does not form the required commission, a federal three-judge court will draw the district lines. I along with my colleague and Fellow at the New York Law School, Nicholas P. Stabile, have drafted this quick timeline for what…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, LATEST, RedistrictingAnalysis, enacting, HR1, IN-DEPTH, Independent Redistricting Commission, lpother, national, policyindepth

Amendments to H.R. 1 Take Congressional Map-Drawing Out of the Hands of State Legislatures in 2021

By EditorMar 03, 2021

In mid-February, we reported about potential sweeping reforms of the congressional redistricting process in the states proposed by Congress. The bill (H.R. 1) would have been effective in 2030 but newly added amendments on Monday, make it a requirement for states this year. Yes. This year. The amended H.R.1 requires states to either create an agency to establish a commission or designate an existing one to carry out a detailed commissioner selection process. The procedural requirements are substantial and maps created by the commission must meet various rigorous statistical measures to avoid partisan gerrymandering. A vote is scheduled on the…

LATEST, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Criteria, REFORMcongress, national, partisan gerrymandering, policyindepth, redistricting reform

California Redistricting Commission Launches Communities of Interest Tool

By EditorMar 03, 2021

PRESS RELEASE 2020 California Citizens Redistricting CommissionLaunches Communities of Interest Tool SACRAMENTO, CA—Today, the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission (Commission) and the California Statewide Database announced the launch of the Communities of Interest (COI) input tool, designed to make it easier for Californians to participate in the redistricting process. Every 10 years, after the federal government publishes updated census information, California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts so that the state’s population is evenly allocated among the new districts. When the Commission creates new districts, it must follow certain…

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