Today’s Links:
Articles:
Ballotpedia – Status of redistricting after the 2020 census
Brennan Center for Justice – Redistricting Litigation Roundup
FiveThirtyEight – What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State
Groups Taking Action:
League of Women Voters People Powered Maps Project, Democracy Docket, ACLU
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Ballotpedia has issued a summary of the 2022 redistricting efforts around the country after the litigation dust has started to settle. Forty-nine states have now completed their state house and senate districts, and all the Congressional districts have been decided for the 2022 midterm elections.
Forty-four states made changes to their Congressional districts. Populations in six states didn’t change significantly, and legislatures opted not to change the boundaries. Ballotpedia reports that 97.5% of state Senate seats and 98.2% of House seats have been drawn.
The Brennan Center for Justice just updated their numbers on redistricting litigation, and as of July 1, a total of 72 cases have been filed in 26 states challenging congressional and state maps as racial or partisan gerrymanders.
Litigation also resulted in redrawn maps in Alaska, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio in time for the 2022 elections. And recently the U.S. Supreme Court issued stays on court-ordered maps in Alabama & Louisiana, with Alabama’s case to be heard in October. Forty-five cases are still pending in the lower courts around the country.
Now there’s the specter of a North Carolina redistricting case which will test the “independent state legislature” theory, an argument which give state legislatures supreme power over all election rules – even over state constitutions and the courts.
Links to this data and groups taking action are available at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org