Category Archives: redistricting

“As Gerrymanders Get Worse, Legal Options to Overturn Them Dwindle”

November 21, 2021, 11:17 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Michael Wines for the NYT: Voting-rights advocates are in a North Carolina state court in Raleigh this month, arguing in three lawsuits that Republican gerrymanders of the State Legislature and the state’s 14 seats in the House of… Continue reading

“Latino, Asian American, LGBTQ activists: They want to shape California’s congressional maps”

November 21, 2021, 11:05 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

LAT: Activists are urging the creation of a congressional district that links LGBTQ populations in Long Beach and coastal northern Orange County. Civil-rights groups say a plan to split up a Los Angeles-area district — the most heavily Latino in … Continue reading

Breaking–Sean Trende and Bernard Grofman to draw Virginia Maps

November 19, 2021, 10:56 amredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Dave Wasserman on Twitter reports that the Virginia Supreme Court has unanimously appointed Sean Trende and Bernard Groffman as special masters for the court-supervised redistricting process.

“Ohio Republicans’ redistricting map dilutes Black voters’ power in Congress, critics say”

November 19, 2021, 4:54 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post Legal challenge, including on state constitutional grounds, expected if Governor Mike DeWine signs the new map into law. Either way, “the map will only be in effect for four years, since fewer than one-third of legislative… Continue reading

“Wisconsin governor vetoes redistricting maps, calls them ‘gerrymandering 2.0′”

November 18, 2021, 3:53 pmredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Breaking News from The Hill Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor, Tony Evers, has vetoed the maps Wisconsin’s Republican Legislature sent him–as promised last week. “Republicans do not have enough support in the legislature to overturn the veto, sending the battle over the… Continue reading

Spotlight on Redistricting

November 18, 2021, 6:49 amredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Politico’s front page today features various articles on redistricting. Warning: Only read if you need one more reason to be depressed about the state of our democratic institutions. I think it would be good for someone in the thick of… Continue reading

“Redistricting squeezes 2 Democratic rising stars in Georgia”

November 17, 2021, 6:58 pmredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Politico Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature revealed its new congressional map on Wednesday. The new map seeks to claw back one of the two seats the party lost over the past three years to two female Democrats: Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux.… Continue reading

“How a Cure for Gerrymandering Left U.S. Politics Ailing in New Ways”

November 17, 2021, 7:12 ampolitical polarization, redistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein at the NY Times “Partisan gerrymandering is as old as the republic, but good-government experts thought they had hit on a solution with independent commissions, advisory groups and outside panels. Taking the map-drawing process… Continue reading

Breaking—Washington Redistricting Commission at Impasse

November 16, 2021, 11:33 amredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

On Twitter The Washington Supreme Court to take over the process. Dave Wasserman from the Cook Political Report notes this is the emerging pattern for this cycle. “Last night, after substantial work marked by mutual respect and dedication to the… Continue reading

Wisconsin Webinar on Redistricting 2021

November 16, 2021, 4:13 amelection law biz, redistrictingDan Tokaji

With the post-2020 redistricting cycle in full swing, the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School are co-hosting a webinar on Redistricting and Gerrymandering 2021: Taking … Continue reading

Breaking—Alabama’s New Political Maps Challenged as Racial Gerrymanders

November 15, 2021, 6:23 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

ACLU Press Release Individual voters joined with civil rights and faith groups, including the Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, to file a pair of lawsuits challenging Alabama’s newly drawn political maps for state legislative… Continue reading

Ins and Outs of Section 2 Litigation–hold on for an interesting ride

November 15, 2021, 1:55 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Michael Li notes on Twitter “Texas is arguing that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not offer plaintiffs a private cause of action.” I suspect we are going to be seeing a lot of imaginative Section 2 arguments… Continue reading

“Americans are participating in redistricting like never before”

November 15, 2021, 9:17 amcitizen commissions, redistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

The Hill This is true to my experience here in Pennsylvania as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council for the congressional redistricting process.

“How two Ohio GOP lawmakers hijacked Ohio’s new redistricting process”

November 13, 2021, 12:49 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Cleveland.com: Under the Ohio Constitution, all seven members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission are supposed to be on equal footing.But in reality, only two commissioners, who have a direct stake in what new state legislative maps look like, had… Continue reading