“Delayed Maps Upend Midterm Campaigns”
Axios reports.
Category Archives: redistricting
“New redistricting commissions splinter along partisan lines”
AP:
When voters in some states created new commissions to handle the politically thorny process of redistricting, the hope was that the bipartisan panelists could work together to draw new voting districts free of partisan gerrymandering.Instead, cooperation has proved elusive.In… Continue reading
“Gerrylaundering”
Rob Yablon has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
As they carry out their decennial redistricting duties, those in power sometimes audaciously manipulate district lines to secure an electoral advantage. In other words, they gerrymander. Often, however,… Continue reading
“New York Will Soon Lose 1 House Seat. The G.O.P. Might Lose 5.”
NYT:
Seven years ago, New Yorkers voted decisively to empower a new bipartisan commission to do what self-interested politicians could not: draw new congressional district lines that were not gerrymandered to favor a particular party.But as the panel prepares… Continue reading
Minimal disruption in Iowa redistricting plan despite delayed Census data
The Iowa Constitution requires the legislature to enact redistricting maps by September 15. That date will come and go given the delayed release of Census data. The first map from Iowa’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (unique and widely praised)… Continue reading
“Revised Democratic voting bill drops controversial provisions, tweaks others as pressure for action mounts”
WaPo:
A group of Democratic senators — including key centrist Joe Manchin III of West Virginia — introduced a pared-down voting rights, campaign finance and government ethics bill Tuesday in hopes of building momentum for its passage through a closely… Continue reading
Governor Wolf Creates Redistricting Advisory Council to Help Evaluate Fairness in Upcoming Congressional Redistricting Map
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced the creation of a Redistricting Advisory Council as part of his commitment to a fair and transparent redistricting process that will involve the public. The Advisory Council has been tasked with: reviewing the processes in… Continue reading
Michael McDonald: “Powering the Public to Draw and Evaluate Redistricting Plans”
The following is a guest post from Michael McDonald about his important project:
With the release of the Census Bureau’s redistricting data, redistricting is now upon us.
A number of organizations have been working on data and technology in anticipation… Continue reading
“Can Social Science Evidence Be Trusted in Voting Rights Litigation? Ascertaining Whether a Minority Community Will Have an Equal Opportunity to Elect a Candidate of its Choice in a Given Legislative or Congressional District”
Bernie Grofman, Lisa Handley and David Lublin have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
We address recent skepticism by Chief Justice Roberts about the usefulness of social science tools of analysis in litigation about redistricting. Limiting our… Continue reading
“Democrats see consequences from redistricting reform push”
AP:
Democrats argue that the once-a-decade process of redrawing political maps shouldn’t be a partisan cage match. In the name of good government and balance, they’ve pushed for independent commissions to do the work of rebalancing population changes into congressional… Continue reading
“Barely underway, Texas redistricting draws its first lawsuit challenging Legislature’s authority to redraw legislative maps”
Texas Tribune:
The first volley in what is expected to be a fierce war over Texas redistricting kicked off Wednesday in the form of a federal lawsuit filed by two Democratic state senators who argue that state lawmakers cannot legally… Continue reading
Grofman & Cervas: “Fracking: A Contiguity-Related Redistricting Metric”
Bernie Grofman and Jonathan Cervas:
The aim of this short blog is to add a useful term, fracking, to the list of geographically defined redistricting criteria. Fracking is defined as a situation in which a county or city or… Continue reading
UPDATED: Redistricting roundup
August 31: I have updated some of the links and resources in this post and have bumped it to the top.
Ahead of the Census release:
ABC News
Associated Press
CNN
NBC News
NPR
New York Times
Politico
Roll Call… Continue reading
Must-Read Michael Wines: “As Washington Stews, State Legislatures Increasingly Shape American Politics; From voting rights to the culture wars, state legislatures controlled by Republicans are playing a role well beyond their own state borders”
NYT:
With the release of the 2020 census last month, the drawing of legislative districts that could in large part determine control of Congress for the next decade heads to the nation’s state legislatures, the heart of Republican political power.Increasingly,… Continue reading