With the 2020 Census in the rearview mirror, statehouses across the nation are about to begin the once-a-decade fight to redraw voting district lines. “Redistricting debates will heat up in many states as Democrats try to stop Republicans, who control most statehouses, from drawing district lines that would solidify their political power for another decade,” Tim Henderson reports for Stateline.
Republican control in the statehouse will likely result in rural areas gaining more electoral power. “In states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas that have conservative legislatures and liberal cities, Republicans will try to preserve their majorities by drawing congressional and state legislative districts that favor GOP incumbents and dilute Democratic voting strength,” Henderson reports.
This is likely to be true especially in Southern states, according to Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “After the red wave in 2011, you had some really aggressive line-drawing in places like Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania,” Li said at a recent seminar. “Now I think the hot spots are going to be in the South—North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas.”
Though federal courts in the past decade have ruled against Republicans in gerrymandering cases, state supreme courts will be the final word in such cases now, because of a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Henderson reports.
Spurred by endless litigation and partisan battles, an increasing number of states are turning toward independent commissions to determine districts fairly. “A total of 19 states now have commissions with input on redistricting, and another five use commissions as a backup if the legislature can’t agree or overcome a veto,” Henderson reports.
(Al Cross is the director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues based at the University of Kentucky. This article ran on The Rural Blog is a publication of IRJCI.)
The Rural Blog is a publication of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues based at the University of Kentucky.
