National Civic Summit - Brennan Center For Justice - Justin Levitt

Redistricting and the Census

Justin Levitt

July 16, 2009

The Brennan Center and redistrictingBased at NYU, but work nationwide

Think tank, advocacy group, law firm

• Study of redistricting practices and reform initiatives

• Analysis of proposals

• Testimony before decisionmakers

• Consulting for advocates

• Advocacy and publication

The Midwest Democracy NetworkAlliance of political reform advocates

5 Midwest states

• Public education

• Civic organization training

• Policy formulation

• Public advocacy and pressure for reform

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

What is “redistricting”?

• Every 10 years (at least), after the census

• Congress, state legislature, many local legislatures

• Sorts voters into groups, distributes political power, affects policy priorities

Downtown Minneapolis

Is this a good district?

Is this a good district?

You can’t know if a district is “good,” unless you know what it’s trying to achieve

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Why does redistricting matter?

• Politicians choosing their voters• Eliminating incumbents or

challengers

• Diluting minority votes• Splitting up communities

Hakeem

Jeffries’

house

•

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Key redistricting dates

April 1, 2010 ―

December 31, 2010―

January 10, 2011 ―

April 1, 2011 ―

End of session 2011―

Census Day

Census count to President

Apportionment to U.S. House

Redistricting data to states

Most redistricting complete

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Who draws the lines

In most states, the legislature has primary control

• State legislative districts: 37 states

• Congressional districts: 38 states(and 7 states with 1 Congressional district)

Other redistricting institutions

State legislative districts

Congressional

districts

AdvisoryBackup

Primary control in the legislature

Primary control outside legislature

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Start with federal protectionsEqual population – one person, one vote

• Congress: as equal as possible

• State legislature: ~10% spread if good reason

• section 2: draw majority-minority districts to

avoid dilution

• section 5: preclear to ensure that minority

voters aren’t made worse off

• otherwise: can consider race, but race can’t “predominate” unless really good

reason

CrackingPacking

Federal protectionsRace – Voting Rights Act and the

Constitution

The Voting Rights Act and beyond

After federal law, add state limitations

• Contiguity

• Political boundaries

• Compactness

• Communities of interest

• Partisanship/competition

• Nesting

State leg.Congress

45 14

38 13

34 13

19 8

9 6

14 (+3) n/a

Today’s conversation

• What?

• Why?

• When?

• Who?

• Where?

• How?

Influencing the processTangible next steps

• Census

• Redistricting

Influencing the census

• Educate your community

• Recruit census takers

• Become a census partner

• Staff a help center

• Fight the “boycott”

• Focus on “hard to count” areas

2000 population in hard-to-count areas

Source: Election Data Services

2000 Denver hard-to-count areas

Source: Community Research Institute, Dorothy A. Johnson Center for

Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, Grand

Valley State U.

Influencing redistricting (short-term)

• Educate your community

• Educate the media and drive the story

• Identify and map community boundaries

• Attend hearings

• Present alternative maps

Mapping community boundaries

Communities of interest• Social interests• Cultural interests• Racial / ethnic interests• Economic / trade interests • Geographic interests• Communication and

transportation networks• Media markets• Urban and rural interests• Occupations and lifestyles

Influencing redistricting (long-term)

• Alternative voting systems- Cumulative voting- Choice voting

• Alternative redistricting entities- Independent commissions- Accountability seats

Independent commissions

• This is not about taking politics out of redistricting

• It’s about limiting the role of self-dealing politicians

• Why should one of the game’s players also be the referee?

• Who chooses the commissioners?

• How to ensure real diversity?

• Which criteria are most important?

• How to reconcile competing criteria?

• How to get the right discretion?

Independent commissions

• Meaningful independence

• Meaningful diversity

• Meaningful guidance

• Meaningful transparency

Still need careful design

Preparing for long-term change

• Ballot initiatives

• Legislative action

- Substantial public support- Substantial funding- Bipartisan sponsorship- Support of minority communities

Source: Initiative & Referendum Institute, University of Southern California

- Substantial public support- Bipartisan sponsorship- Support of minority communities

Building public support

• Educate the media

• Train community leadership

• Secure validation from trusted elders

• Model best practices (model commission)

• Justin LevittBrennan Center for Justicewww.brennancenter.org

• Midwest Democracy Networkwww.midwestdemocracynetwork.org

Booth 204 at the Expo, here at the Summit

Further information