Category Archives: redistricting

“‘Alabama Counts’: How one Republican state bucks national trends and boosts Census awareness”

January 2, 2020, 1:35 pmredistrictingJustin Levitt

Alabama is right on the brink of losing a congressional seat – under most projections, it’s the state that would get the 436th seat if that were a thing. (And that’s if the Census count is actually accurate.) And… Continue reading

“Commission on Appellate Court Appointments in Spotlight as Redistricting Fight Nears”

January 2, 2020, 1:31 pmredistrictingJustin Levitt

In Arizona, the commission on appellate court appointments is also the screening body for applicants to the state’s independent redistricting commission. And with tomorrow’s deadline on applications to the commission, KJZZ has a story on some of the upstream impact… Continue reading

“Virginia was home to the first gerrymander. It should also be the home of its solution.”

January 2, 2020, 1:31 pmlegislation and legislatures, political parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Sam Wang urges the new unilateral Democratic majority in Virginia to follow through on redistricting reform.

“We can’t assume Virginia Democrats will keep their promise on redistricting reform”

January 1, 2020, 3:19 pmpolitical parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

The Post’s editorial board laments the potential change of heart after the change in electoral fortunes.

“New York Dems Are Redrawing Congressional Districts and It Could Put Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Out of a Job”

January 1, 2020, 3:18 pmcensus litigation, political parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

The Daily Wire ties the census, redistricting, and (perhaps) a bit of wish fulfillment. They’re not wrong about legislative leadership use of redistricting to enforce party discipline, though. It’ll be interesting to see the extent to which New York’s new … Continue reading

New apportionment estimates

December 31, 2019, 2:10 pmredistrictingJustin Levitt

Election Data Services and Polidata have their new apportionment calculations up, based on the latest year-end Census estimates – they estimate the congressional seats apportioned to each state if the Census count follows past trends … and if the count… Continue reading

“’Your Body Being Used’: Where Prisoners Who Can’t Vote Fill Voting Districts”

December 31, 2019, 2:09 pmredistrictingJustin Levitt

Hansi Lo Wang with an NPR report on prison gerrymandering. I’ve tried to convince the Census Bureau to change the way it counts people who are incarcerated, but no national change is coming this decade. States and localities are… Continue reading

“Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission applications mailed out”

December 31, 2019, 2:05 pmcitizen commissions, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Michigan’s new independent commission law requires the Secretary of State to send hundreds of thousands of applications to randomly selected citizens … and the applications are now in the mail.

“Native Americans, the census’ most undercounted racial group, fight for an accurate 2020 tally”

December 30, 2019, 1:02 pmredistrictingJustin Levitt

A compelling report on the abundant challenges facing Native Americans seeking an accurate count, and the extraordinary stakes for some of the smaller and more isolated communities.

Partisan gerrymandering and the 2010s

December 30, 2019, 1:00 pmpolitical parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

And for David Daley, one of the biggest stories of the decade-in-review is partisan gerrymandering.

I’m shocked – shocked – to find that gambling is going on in here.

December 30, 2019, 1:00 pmpolitical parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

A few stories about incumbent government officials weighing the merits of redistricting reform, finding reason to put up the strongest resistance coincidentally right when they unilaterally control the partisan levers of power. In Virginia, it’s Democrats; in Idaho,… Continue reading