Resources

Redistricting Basics

Answers to fundamental questions about the redistricting process and how to draw and analyze maps: what is redistricting, what is gerrymandering, how to draw legally compliant maps, what data you need, why do we redistrict, when redistricting occurs and who is responsible for redistricting.

Local Redistricting

Any legislative body in which members are elected within districts must redraw these boundaries on occasion. That includes not only the US House of Representatives (congressional redistricting) and state legislatures, but also county and city legislative bodies, school districts, judicial districts and more.

Community of Interest

A community of interest COI is a group of people with shared concerns, interests, and characteristics. Every COI is unique; they might be formed around neighborhoods or the physical landscape, cultures, values, and many other things. Because of these shared interests and concerns, a common redistricting criteria is that COIs be considered during the process.

Racially Polarized Voting (RPV)

Racially Polarized Voting (RPV) analyses are done to determine compliance with the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The VRA was passed in 1965 with the intent to enforce the 15th Amendment. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act protects against voting practices or procedures that inhibit the right to vote based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group.

Prison Gerrymandering

Prison gerrymandering is the practice of distorting representation by counting incarcerated people in the jail or prison where they are confined, rather than at their place of residence. Since the vast majority of incarcerated people cannot choose which facility to be confined at and are denied the right to vote, where they are counted impacts the representation of the communities to which they belong and in which they are confined.

Florida 2012 Redistricting

A primer on the first case in which a state court struck down a redistricting plan as a partisan gerrymander.

In 2010, the citizens of Florida rallied behind two proposed amendments to the state’s constitution, written by Ellen Freidin of Fair Districts Florida. With over 63% of the vote, Floridians codified the “Fair Districts Amendments,” which put in place two tiers of standards regulating how the Legislature could redistrict for both state legislative and congressional reapportionment.