News. Debate. Community. Levers for a better democracy.
The State of Reform
Download Unite America’s free report
Download Unite America's free report analyzing the impact of four key political reforms.
MOST READ
Get some leverage.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter.
mapchart.net
Mapmaking commission effort comes up way short in Nevada
Jul 29 2020
Nevada will remain a state where politicians get to draw the election boundaries they run in. Advocates for turning the mapmaking over to an independent panel have conceded defeat.
Fair Maps Nevada announced Tuesday it was able to collect only 12,000 of the 98,000 signatures required to get their proposal on the November ballot, giving up a week ahead of the deadline. The group said it was stymied by the social distancing and safety protocols mandated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Assigning independent commissions to draw congressional and legislative district lines, instead of the state legislators themselves, is widely regarded as the best way to combat partisan gerrymandering. This year's election is effectively the last chance for states to make the switch in time for the maps being drawn for the next decade.
<p>Fair Maps Nevada sued in May in search of relief from some of the petition requirements given the public health crisis. Last month, a federal judge <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/nevada-redistricting" target="_self">granted</a> the group a six-week extension, until next Wednesday, but denied its bid to gather signatures electronically.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>"This is not the end of our efforts," the group said in its concession announcement, which promised to lay the groundwork for a successful referendum in two years, in plenty of time for the 2031 redistricting. "We will build a database of 'Pledge to Sign' supporters who will be ready to sign a new petition when we refile our redistricting reform ballot question.</p>
<p>Over the next 15 months, Fair Maps Nevada aims to reach 200,000 people who promise to sign its new petition at the end of next year. The group will also host monthly forums on anti-gerrymandering efforts.</p>
<p>Because of delays in the census thanks to the coronavirus, a special session of the solidly Democratic state Legislature will probably be convened in the fall of 2021 to draw the 63 legislative and four House districts for the rest of the decade. Fair Maps vowed that its supporters will flood Carson City "as an observer corps to ensure our new redistricting maps are fair and free from gerrymandering."</p>
<p>Fourteen states are sure to use independent commissions to draw state legislative districts next year, and eight will do so for congressional districts.</p>Virginia will join this group if voters approve a measure on the November ballot. On the other hand, Missouri voters will decide whether to undo a redistricting initiative enacted two years ago. Efforts to get commission measures on the ballot are still alive in <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/redistricting-reform-oregon-arkansas" target="_self">Arkansas, North Dakota and Oregon</a>.
From Your Site Articles
- Anti-gerrymandering fights make a stop at the courthouse - The ... ›
- Nevada redistricting could become nonpartisan — in 2023 - The ... ›
- Nevada redistricting effort gets more time - The Fulcrum ›
- New Jersey may keep current legislative maps two extra years - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Hill Street Studios/Getty Images
Redistricting reformers to Oregon voters: You've got mail
Jun 11 2020
In keeping with social distancing mandates, crusaders against partisan gerrymandering in Oregon have settled on a new old-fashioned way to recruit allies: Send a letter, by snail mail.
With the coronavirus pandemic ruling out traditional in-person canvassing across the country, many grassroots democracy efforts have gone silent — some after failing to get permission to obtain electronic signatures for their ballot measures.
Redistricting reformers in Oregon aren't going down the online route. Instead they are mailing copies of their ballot proposal, which would turn legislative mapmaking over to an independent redistricting commission, to half a million residential addresses in search of handwritten endorsements.
<p>Time is of the essence. Political maps generally get drawn once every decade, after the census provides detailed population figures, so the reliably Democratic majorities in the Oregon Legislature will claim the job for themselves next year unless voters decide otherwise in November. And the measure won't be on the ballot unless 149,000 people sign and return the forms in the next three weeks.</p>
<p>The <a data-linked-post="2638675562" href="https://thefulcrum.us/directory/league-of-women-voters" target="_blank">League of Women Voters</a> and People Not Politicians are behind the flooding of the Postal Service in the Oregon campaign. Their mailing, which includes a postage-paid return envelope, is going to 500,000 households identified as having more than one registered voter.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Voters can also download the <a href="https://www.peoplenotpoliticiansoregon.com/sign-the-petition/LWVOR/" target="_blank">petition</a> on the People Not Politicians' website or they can ask the group for a version in the mail if it doesn't show up soon.</p>
<p>The measure would establish a commission of four Democrats, four Republicans and four people unaffiliated with a major party. It would draw the district lines for the state House and Senate and set the boundaries of congressional districts — six of them, probably, up from five because of the state's population growth during the 2010s.</p>
<p>Oregon is one of a handful of states where advocates for taking mapmaking away from its beneficiaries are still campaigning. The group pushing for creation of a commission in newly blue <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/nevada-redistricting" target="_self">Nevada</a> was recently given more time to collect signatures to get on the ballot. But the effort in reliably red <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/arkansas-signature-lawsuit" target="_self">Arkansas</a> has been hobbled since a federal judge refused to allow e-signatures on petitions.</p>
<p><a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/virginia-redistricting-amendment" target="_self">Virginia</a> is the only state that for sure will have a referendum in November on creation of an independent commission, while <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/redistricting/gerrymandering-missouri" target="_self">Missourians</a> will vote on whether to largely undo a redistricting reform initiative they approved two years ago.</p>
<p>At the moment, 14 states will use independent commissions to draw the next decade's legislative districts, and eight of those will also take over congressional cartography.</p>
<p>Massachusetts and Michigan are the only states that have so far permitted electronic signatures for ballot measures in light of Covid-19. At least two dozen citizen democracy efforts, including four related to democracy reform, have been suspended due to the pandemic.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Lessons from Oregon, the top-ranked vote-by-mail state - The Fulcrum ›
- Coronavirus ends last Illinois redistricting reform effort - The Fulcrum ›
- More states consider anti-gerrymandering efforts - The Fulcrum ›
- Oregon, Illinois may take gerrymandering power from Democrats ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Cinderella bracket continues in Democracy Madness
Apr 27 2020
The Final Four in the Elections quarter of our Democracy Madness draw is upon us — and it turns out only one top seed has made it to the regional semifinals.
<p>
Turning redistricting over to independent commissions, our No. 2 seed, advanced by cruising past the call for congressional term limits.
</p><p>
The biggest upset in the weekend voting: The idea of electing several members to represent each U.S. House district, our No. 9 seed, snuck out a win over the top-seeded proposal of presidential elections simply by popular vote.
</p><p>
Multimember districts now face Supreme Court term limits (No. 13), while anti-gerrymandering commissions confront the No. 11 proposal, states promising to award their electoral votes to the national popular winner.
</p><p>
Press the Vote Now button to make your two choices. (You can click the matchups, then each label, for more on the proposals.)
</p><p>
We're hoping to learn what readers think is the best of 64 ideas for reforming our governing systems and putting voters back at the center of things. The money in politics "region" starts next.
</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>
<br>
</p><div class="commonninja_component" comp-id="883f938f-8456-4d9d-9ceb-7280eba254ce" comp-type="bracket">
</div><p>
<br>
</p><script type="text/javascript"> (function() {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.type = 'text/javascript';
script.src = 'https://cdn.commoninja.com/sdk/latest/commonninja.js';
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
})();
</script>
Keep reading...
Show less
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Inmates at the Cook County, Ill. jail vote in the state's primary earlier this month. Colorado has passed a law that counts prisoners at the address where they last lived instead of the prison for the purposes of drawing legislative boundaries.
Colorado ends prison gerrymandering
Mar 25 2020
Colorado has become the eighth state to end prison gerrymandering, meaning prisoners will be counted for redistricting purposes at the last place they lived instead of at the site of their incarceration.
Gov. Jared Polis signed that switch into law last week after the bill was passed by his fellow Democrats in control of the General Assembly. New Jersey passed similar legislation earlier this year, and nearly a dozen other states are considering bills, according to the Prison Policy Initiative's Prison Gerrymandering Project.
Proponents of the change say counting people where they are imprisoned when drawing congressional, state legislative and local government districts unfairly shifts power to rural districts at the expense of urban areas where a majority of the prisoners are from.
<p>Those representing areas where prisons are located disagree, saying they deserve a greater share of government services — often tied to the population totals reported by the census once a decade — because of the people housed in prison.</p><p>The Colorado law addresses congressional and state legislative districts; counting people at their last place of residence will remain optional for some forms of local redistricting. </p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Advocates for ending all forms of prison gerrymandering say that elected officials whose districts include prisons often do not treat inmates as constituents.</p><p>The sponsors of the Colorado bill said they asked members who represent areas with prisons in the state whether any had held a town hall at a correctional facility. None had.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Florida joins debate over where to count prisoners when drawing ... ›
- Federal court to hear challenge to prison gerrymandering - The ... ›
- Movement to restore felons' voting rights keeps growing, and in ... ›
- Virginia becoming 9th state to end 'prison gerrymandering' - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
