It’s never too early to start thinking about redistricting.
The process of redrawing legislative and congressional district lines once, twice, even three times a decade can be stressful, contentious and litigious. But that’s no reason to put it off. Many redistricting policies take time to implement.
Start now, advises Karin Mac Donald, director of the California Statewide Database, the office that handles redistricting data for the Golden State. She and other experts addressed a session on creating personalized redistricting checklists at NCSL’s 2024 Legislative Summit.
Who Draws the Maps and Has Input
Someone needs to draw a redistricting map, and that’s usually the legislature—but not always. A recent trend has seen states delegating map-drawing power to redistricting commissions.
Commissions can vary in their structure, powers, size and who appoints them. Jonathan Cervas, an assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute, says he doesn’t think there is one good way to construct a commission.
“I can name you several reasons why small is better and several reasons why large is better,” he says. “Smallest is better because it’s easier to organize four or five people and … they can deliberate with each other. On the other hand, when you have 16 people, you can sort of specialize. You can have four people go and do this, four people go and do that.”
Sometimes, redistricting can feel like a black box behind closed doors. Quyen Do, deputy research director of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, says her state’s redistricting goal was to “make it transparent, make it accessible.”
To achieve that, many states allow for public input on the maps a legislature or commission has proposed through open meetings, which can be livestreamed, as they were in Oklahoma.
Technical Considerations
Every state has requirements and processes for drawing a map. Criteria include, among others, ensuring that districts are compact and contiguous; that certain communities are kept whole; and partisan advantage for one party is disallowed. These requirements often in conflict, which has led several states to rank their priorities for map drawers. But ranking isn’t a solution that works for every state.
“[A] very rigid ranking of redistricting criteria will most likely provide map makers with a very clear step-by-step list of instructions,” says Helen Brewer, policy specialist for NCSL’s Elections and Redistricting Program. “On the other hand, when it comes to flexibility, map makers are dealing … with infinite different and sometimes conflicting data points and may feel that they need flexibility to balance all those considerations.”
Another redistricting process considered in recent years (and adopted in a dozen) is to reallocate inmate population data. The decennial census reports inmates as living in the correctional facility where they are held. Some states have instead opted to reallocate the data linked to those inmates to their last known addresses for the purposes of redistricting. This process reconciling census data with information the correctional facilities provide on inmates’ last known residence before being detained.
Accessing census data is straightforward—unlike obtaining information from correctional facilities, which often can’t share information about citizens without explicit permission, Mac Donald says. And that usually takes time.
“They will give you data eventually,” she says. “But their data is confidential, and they don’t know you, right?” Because of this, Mac Donald recommends redistricters get lawyers and start setting up processes early.
What if Everything Falls Apart?
The process sometimes produces unusable maps. Jeff Wice, special counsel to the New York Legislature, offered four ways a state could end up with no maps: a deadline is missed; the people drawing just give up; a map is challenged in court; or a legislature refuses to enact a new map.
“When these situations develop and court challenges are filed, the courts will always give the last enacting body every last chance to develop a remedy,” Wice says.
What happens if map drawers can’t find a remedy? Usually, an independent expert known as a special master will be appointed to make a remedial map. Wice cautions against picking “someone from your partisan shop, because that never works.”
Although redistricting can be challenging, saving the blood, sweat and tears for the last minute might not be the wisest choice. As Mac Donald says, once you finish implementing these processes, “You get to retire or run away someplace. You’re super happy.”
Adam Kuckuk is a policy associate in NCSL’s Elections and Redistricting Program.