Avoiding an Electoral Lost Decade: What Lessons Will We Learn in the 2011 Redistricting Cycle?

Abstract

With the decennial redistricting cycle starting anew in 2011, there is an opportunity to learn from the lessons of the past cycle as legislators draw their own boundaries in most states, and independent commissions draw them in the others. While the use of commissions has been trumpeted as a way of improving electoral systems, there has been little effective difference between commission-based and legislative-based electoral maps in terms of the standards of electoral symmetry and responsiveness. I recommend that no matter which method is used by a state for drawing their legislative and congressional boundaries, states should bear these factors in mind as they redraw their maps in the coming year.

Keywords: redistricting