Category Archives: redistricting

“Our Electoral Exceptionalism”

August 31, 2012, 8:04 amalternative voting systems, citizen commissions, pedagogy, redistrictingRick Hasen

Nick Stephanopoulos has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming U Chicago Law Review). Here is the abstract: Election law suffers from a comparative blind spot. Scholars in the field have devoted almost no attention to how other countries organize their… Continue reading

About Those Attempts to Redo the Texas District Lines for This Election…..

August 30, 2012, 12:47 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

the 3-judge-court in San Antonio ain’t buying it. That’s what I expected, and it’s clearly the right call so close to the election and after the delayed primaries.

“Minority, Dem groups act to challenge interim redistricting maps”

August 29, 2012, 9:45 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

San Antonio Express-News: “Several key minority and Democratic groups took a first step Wednesday toward challenging Texas’ interim redistricting maps, put in place for the 2012 election, by filing a request for a preliminary hearing in federal court.” I… Continue reading

“Process Failure and Transparency Reform in Local Redistricting: Harnessing the Power of 21st-Century Technologies to Fix 19th-Century Democracies”

August 29, 2012, 11:35 amcitizen commissions, redistrictingRick Hasen

Michael Halberstam has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Election Law Journal). Here is the abstract: Redistricting reform during this cycle has pushed for greater transparency in redistricting, more public participation, the removal of redistricting from the hands of legislatures,… Continue reading

Kuff’s World on the Texas Redstricting Decision

August 29, 2012, 8:52 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Here.

“Democracy on the High Wire: Citizen Commission Implementation of the Voting Rights Act”

August 29, 2012, 8:35 amcitizen commissions, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Justin Levitt has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Voting Rights Act, often praised as the most successful civil rights statute, is among the most fact-intensive of election regulations. California, the country’s most populous and most… Continue reading

“Texas Voter District Maps Rejected by U.S. Judges”

August 29, 2012, 8:08 amDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Bloomberg reports.

Texas Redistricting Story Roundup

August 28, 2012, 8:22 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Reuters Austin American-Statesman Houston Chronicle National Law Journal San Antonio Express-News Washington Post CNN New York Times SCOTUSBlog AP

Will the Texas Redistricting Opinion Affect This November’s Elections?

August 28, 2012, 7:25 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I thought the answer was certainly “no,” but Michael Li offers some alternative possibilities.

On Going Straight to Federal Court with a Section 5 Challenge

August 28, 2012, 7:13 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

A reader writes: What are the odds that Hans von Spakovsky will admit this was bad advice? Abusing the Voting Rights Act The lesson here is that Republican-controlled legislatures that have drawn up redistricting plans that Democrats don’t like would… Continue reading

“Texas Redistricting Hits Minorities, Court Rules”

August 28, 2012, 4:52 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jess Bravin reports for WSJ.

“Judges Toss Out Texas’ New Redistricting Maps”

August 28, 2012, 4:51 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Carrie Johnson reports for NPR.

Ari Berman on Today’s Texas Redistricting Decision

August 28, 2012, 4:42 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Here, at The Nation.

Breaking News: Federal District Court Denies Preclearance of Texas Redistricting Plans [Now updated with analysis]

August 28, 2012, 12:04 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can read the opinion here (there was a partial dissent by Judge Griffith, who wrote most of the majority opinion as well). From the introduction: The latest Census reports that since 2000 the population of Texas grew by over… Continue reading