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Currently, two of Nevada's four congressional districts are routinely competitive between Republicans and Democrats.
Bid launched to bring independence to Nevada political mapmaking – in 2023
A long quest has formally begun to add battleground Nevada to the roster of states where the election districts are drawn by non-politicians.
Advocates for ending partisan gerrymandering nationwide filed a proposed state constitutional amendment on Monday with officials in Carson City. It would create an independent commission to draw both state legislative and congressional districts — with a mandate they be geographically compact, give minorities a fair shot at representation and be as "politically competitive" between the major parties as possible.
The earliest that could happen is four years from now, however. That's because, even if advocates gather the necessary 98,000 signatures by June to put the measure on next November's ballot, and even if it succeeds then, a second statewide vote reaffirming the first one is required in 2022 before the new panel could get to work.
As a result, the four U.S. House districts and all the state legislative districts will next be refashioned by the state Legislature. It looks highly likely to remain solidly Democratic after the 2020 election and the release of new census data, and Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak will be in the middle of his term.
Fourteen states currently use independent commissions for drawing state legislative lines and nine states are on course to use such panels for the next congressional redistricting. The drive for more such bodies has gained steam since the Supreme Court ruled in June that partisan gerrymandering disputes were outside the purview of federal courts
Nevada's current maps were imposed by a panel of judges in 2011 because a politically divided state government couldn't reach agreement. The result is that two of the four congressional districts are routinely competitive between Republicans and Democrats, as are a decent number of the 21 state Senate and 42 state House seats.
In large measure because of its rapidly growing Latino population, the state has been trending blue in recent years, and 2016 marked the first time in four decades when the presidential winner failed to carry the state. But Republicans still make very close contests out of most statewide elections.
The Nevada proposal, with includes strict rules to keep people with ties to partisan politics off the commission, is a coordinated effort among the League of Women Voters of Nevada, the progressive Brennan Center for Justice and RepresentUs, which bills itself the nation's biggest grassroots democracy reform group.
- Ohio's congressional map is impermissibly partisan, federal judges ... ›
- Nevada eases path to the polls several ways - The Fulcrum ›
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Election security efforts should be expanded to cover the vendors who provide the equipment and other systems used to record and count votes, according to a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice. Here a Miami-Dade County election worker checks voting machines for accuracy.
Election equipment vendors should face more security oversight, report argues
Efforts to fend off election hackers in 2020 and beyond have revolved around protecting ballot equipment and the databases of registered voters. Little attention has been focused on the vendors and their employees.
But the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice is proposing that the vendors who make election equipment and related systems be subjected to heightened oversight and vetting, much like defense contractors or others involved in national security.
"There is almost no federal regulation of the vendors that design and maintain the systems that allow us to determine who can vote, how they vote, or how their votes are counted and reported," according to a new report from the nonpartisan policy institute.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is pushing the business community to support civic education.
U.S. Chamber foundation seeks business support for civic ed
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has a message for corporations: The country is in trouble, so get off your butt.
The foundation made its pitch to the business community in a newly published white paper chronicling the sorry state of civics education, the role that corporations can play in healing a divided country and why it should all matter to businesses.
The health of civics education is "quite bleak," foundation President Carolyn Cawley said in an introduction to the paper, which she called "the first step in our efforts to make the business case for civics."
With the support and buy-in of the private sector, the foundation believes, the country stands a better chance at improving civic education and engagement, which in turn could heal the in-fighting, distrust and misinformation undermining the health of the country and well-being of corporate America.