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Position on Redistricting (National)
State or National:
Position in Brief:
The League of Women Voters believes responsibility for redistricting preferably should be vested in an independent special commission, with a membership that reflects the diversity of the unit of government, including citizens at large, representatives of public interest groups, and members of minority groups.
Details:
Every redistricting process should include:
- Specific timelines for the steps leading to a redistricting plan
- Full disclosure throughout the process and public hearings on the plan proposed for adoption
- Redistricting at all levels of government must be accomplished in an open, unbiased manner with citizen participation and access at all levels and steps of the process, and
- Should be subject to open meeting laws.
- A provision that any redistricting plan should be adopted by the redistricting authority with more than a simple majority vote.
- Remedial provisions should be established in the event that the redistricting authority fails to enact a plan. Specific provisions should be made for court review of redistricting measures and for courts to require the redistricting authority to act on a specific schedule.
- Time limits should be set for initiating court action for review.
- The courts should promptly review and rule on any challenge to a redistricting plan and require adjustments if the standards have not been met.
- Remedial provisions should be established in the event that the redistricting authority fails to enact a plan. Specific provisions should be made for court review of redistricting measures and for courts to require the redistricting authority to act on a specific schedule.
The standards on which a redistricting plan is based, and on which any plan should be judged, must:
- Be enforceable in court
- Require:
- Substantially equal population
- Geographic contiguity
- Effective representation of racial and linguistic minorities
- Provide for (to the extent possible)
- Promotion of partisan fairness
- Preservation and protection of “communities of interest”
- Respect for boundaries of municipalities and counties
- Compactness and competitiveness may also be considered as criteria so long as they do not conflict with the above criteria
- Explicitly reject
- Protection of incumbents, through such devices as considering an incumbent’s address
- Preferential treatment for a political party, through such devices as considering party affiliation, voting history, and candidate residence
Position History:
Statement of Position on Redistricting, as Adopted by Concurrence, June 2016. This position does not supersede any existing state League redistricting position.