Overturning decades of tradition, the Supreme Court in 2022 let Alabama use voting districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens.
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Historically, federal courts prioritized voting rights and legal congressional districts for upcoming elections above all other concerns. But the Supreme Court changed that in 2022.
Unchecked, politicians are likely to try to grab as much electoral power as they can.
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Electoral redistricting is a high-stakes political game, so Democrats and Republicans have a hard time playing fair. When they’re made to work together, a more representative result is possible.
Volunteers at the 14th District Democratic headquarters for the midterm election in Detroit, Mich., on Nov 8, 2022. The 14th District map must now be redrawn.
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The commission has tight deadlines to finalize new maps. 2 voting rights experts explain the messy situation.
Michigan’s redistricting commission consists of ordinary citizens with no special qualifications. A court has disapproved their initial effort.
AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
Since 2020, Alabama lawmakers have failed to draw political districts that give Black voters an equal chance of selecting political candidates that represent their interests.
Evan Milligan, plaintiff in an Alabama case that could have far-reaching effects on minority voting power across the U.S., speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4, 2022.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File
Since 2020, Alabama lawmakers have failed to draw political districts that give Black voters an equal chance of selecting political candidates that represent their interests.
Police officers patrolling the front of the Supreme Court building.
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A loud chorus of Democrats – and some Republicans, too – has for years claimed gerrymandering is costing their party seats in Congress. Is it true?
Mississippi state legislators review an option for redrawing the state’s voting districts at the state Capitol in Jackson on March 29, 2022.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
A ruling by the US Supreme Court to allow unlawful maps to be used in the midterm elections will affect who gets elected to the House of Representatives and may determine control of Congress.
Not every vote is counted equal.
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Alabama will be allowed to keep a congressional map that critics say disadvantages Black voters. That does not bode well for 2022 midterms, argues a law scholar.
State Sen. Joseph Thomas, D-Yazoo City, holds a copy of the proposed congressional redistricting map during debate over redistricting at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Jan. 12, 2022.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
The results of the latest round of redistricting have advanced the anti-democratic trend where elected leaders choose their voters, undermining representative government.
People wait in line to get their ballot to vote in the 2020 general election in Detroit, Michigan.
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As states devise new electoral district maps, some have adopted independent commissions to ensure fairness in that process. Do they deliver?
Representatives say the Pledge of Allegiance at the State Capitol in Austin. Texas is one of many states that redrew their political maps in 2021.
Tamir Kalifa via Getty Images
To overhaul an election redistricting process tainted by gerrymandering, Michigan has adopted a governance mechanism prominent 2,500 years ago in ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy.
A small sliver of a congressional district in Pennsylvania crossed four counties, on a map that was ruled to be a partisan gerrymandering plan.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Robin E. Best, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Steve B. Lem, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
When voters in November pick among the candidates for state legislatures, they are choosing the people who will make the new electoral maps for congressional elections.
A worker follows up during the 2020 census test run in Providence, R.I.
U.S. Census Bureau
The Supreme Court has issued what’s likely to be its final word on partisan gerrymandering, saying it’s a political issue, not a legal one. That means reform lies in the hands of voters.
Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Associate Research Professor, Political Science, Co-host of Democracy Works Podcast, Penn State