North Carolina
12th District
Maryland
3rd District
Pennsylvania
7th District
Texas
35th District
Florida
5th District
From the Census to Congressional Districts
Understanding a few definitions and concepts, as well as some American history, can help voters begin to realize why congressional boundaries can resemble a finger painting and the impact on congressional boundaries have on election outcomes.
The U.S. Census triggers a once-a-decade process that recalibrates political maps to account for population shifts. Getting an accurate count of residents is why governments and private organizations launch awareness campaigns urging residents to accurately and promptly answer the decennial census. Census data plays a vital role in informing the current and future needs of a community. It plays a direct role in resource allocation decisions for health care, food and income security, education, housing, and other vital services that are especially important to vulnerable populations such as children, renters, and people of color.
After the census data is tabulated, the U.S. House of Representatives begins to reapportion its 435 seats among the 50 states. The U.S. Constitution mandates the reapportionment; more seats per state means more political power to make decisions on federal policies.
The resulting number of U.S. House seats determines the number of votes each state casts as part of the Electoral College for presidential elections. In addition, the funding for many federal programs is also determined by those population counts. The federal funding supports services at a local level, impacting the number of new community health centers built, the amount of funding allocated for investing in transportation infrastructure in low income communities, and even how many housing support programs such as Section 8 are made available.
The census presents a unique opportunity once every 10 years to promote equality and encourage community development in neighborhoods that need it most.
The number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives was set at its current 435 members during the Reapportionment Act of 1929 . Each state is guaranteed at least one U.S. House member. (There are seven such states—Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware, and Vermont—resulting from the 2010 U.S. Census.) The remaining 43 states have 428 U.S. representatives, whose districts average 710,000 constituents.
Redistricting is how state and local governments redraw their political lines. This process ranges from legislative and congressional districts to school boundaries . Each state has its own rules for how federal and state legislative seats are drawn. The legislatures in nearly 40 states draw their own lines for their state houses and Congress. The rest have independent commissions and advisory panels involved in the process. Most often, governors can veto a plan. Courts are often asked to intervene because political parties and special interest groups believe their constituents are underrepresented in proposed redistricting maps. Generally, the new election districts are in place two years after a census is taken.
Gaming the system
Ideally, redistricting is supposed to ensure equal representation—but the process has been filled with controversy even before 1812, when the Boston Gazette coined the term “gerrymander” to describe a map favorable to Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry and his Democratic-Republican party. After Gerry took office, the party redrew the Senate districts map in an extremely partisan manner with the aim of helping the governor win future elections. The resulting map looked like a salamander, hence the original form of the term, Gerry-mander-ing.
In more recent history, gerrymandering has been used by both major political parties as a tool to maintain political power. Districts were drawn based on partisan voter data, ensuring that the newly drawn district would solidly vote for one party and securing the congressional seat. Below is a map made with ArcGIS Living Atlas showing some of the worst of the districts of the 113th Congress. These carved out districts resulted in irregularly-shaped geographic areas that have acquired funny nicknames such as “The praying mantis” and “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”
Thomas Hofeller, nicknamed “The Redistricting Guru,” was a mapping and political strategist who used gerrymandering principles in 2010 to redraw congressional seats favoring one party over the other. In 1991, he said, "I define redistricting as the only legalized form of vote-stealing left in the United States today."
Another important consideration in redistricting is the groundbreaking Voting Rights Act of 1965 , which was designed to protect ethnic and racial minorities from voter suppression. The Voting Rights Act prevents the drawing of districts that deny minorities the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, which is also known as racial gerrymandering. Established to address violent voter intimidation in the Jim Crow South during Reconstruction, it is considered one of the most successful and impactful pieces of legislation. The Voting Rights Act has empowered over 10,000 elected officials of color in local, state, and federal U.S. offices.
GIS for a transparent redistricting process
With so many important considerations and the 2021 redistricting process drawing nearer, there is a unique opportunity to embed a more democratic and transparent process that includes citizen input. This is made possible with GIS technology.
According to the Altman and McDonald study, redistricting technology began in the 1960s, was experimented with in the 1970s and 1980s, was adopted professionally in the 1990s, and became commercially available in the 2000s. "The World Wide Web . . . made it significantly easier to obtain information about plans and data, supporting information seeking,” the study said. “The public redistricting technologies available now make it possible for the public to participate in redistricting in new ways.”
ArcGIS StoryMaps
American redistricting history
American redistricting history and tools for districts that represent the people
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