On March 2-3, many of the nation's leading redistricting experts and reform advocates will gather at Duke University for a conference highlighting efforts around the country to end the undemocratic practice of drawing legislative districts for poltical advantage. 

Redistricting Reform: Mapping Our Future is co-hosted by Common Cause, the Campaign Legal Center, and Duke University’s Center for Political Leadership, Innovation, and Service (POLIS). The conference will be livestreamed.

Panel discussions will feature prominent redistricting litigators and leaders of national and state advocacy campaigns to reform our broken redistricting system. Panelists will share and compare strategies that have brought about significant redistricting reforms across the nation.

Ahead of their publication in Election Law Journal, winners of Common Cause’s “Gerrymander Standard” writing competition will discuss their innovative ideas to create a judicial standard for measuring political gerrymanders.
What:             “Redistricting Reform: Mapping Our Future” Conference
Who:               Leading Redistricting Experts and Reform Advocates
When:             Thursday, March 2, 2017 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
                         Friday, March 3, 2017 8:00 AM - 1:30 PM
Where:           Duke University
                        Sanford Building 
                        201 Science Dr.
                        Durham, NC 27708
            
For live stream, click here. 
For a full agenda and complete list of participants, click here.
Hashtag for the conference: #fairmaps

Questions?  Contact Bob Phillips of Common Cause North Carolina,
(919) 605-3835 or bphillips@commoncause.org

by Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio

​Redistricting happens following the census and is based on changes in population so it’s
hard to know exactly how a fairer congressional map might look but we have some clues.

Following the 2010 census, redistricting reform advocates joined forces to create the
Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting. The goals of the Campaign were simple:
1. Increase transparency during the 2011 Ohio redistricting or mapmaking process and
2. Give citizens the opportunity to draw state legislative and congressional districts
themselves.

Together, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, Common Cause Ohio, Ohio Citizen
Action and other partners held a real-time competition using census data and partisan
information created by Cleveland State University Prof. Mark Salling. This competition
gave citizens the opportunity to draw state legislative and congressional districts.

Criteria for the 2011 Ohio Redistricting Competition

1. Compactness
2. Competitiveness
3. Representational fairness (not favoring one political party over another and mapmaking that reflect the partisan makeup of Ohio as a whole)
4. Respect for county and municipal boundaries

Mapmakers were also give guidance on how to create majority-minority districts that
respect the Voting Rights Act.

How do these districts impact congressional elections?
Partisan makeup of Ohio Congressional districts is a perfect predictor for the political party of the winners in every single districts in 2012, 2014, 2016. Districts that lean towards Democrats, were won by Democrats; Districts that lean towards Republicans were won by Republicans.

Gerrymandering isn't new.  District lines have been manipulated by one politcal party or another for more than 200 years but computers have enabled mapmakers to craft truly precise ways to marginalize the opposing party. This chart by Steven Nass provides an explanation for how gerrymandering works: 

Voters deserve fair districts and fair elections! In 2015, we established the Ohio Redistricting Commissioin to draw state legislative district lines.  More than 71% of voters approved new rules prohibiting gerrymandering.  We need to fix congressional redistricting before the next census! 

Want to help get the word out about the need for congressional redistricting reform? 
Click here to add your name to our growing list of supporters of Congressional redistricting reform. Find the Fair Districts = Fair Elections Coalition on Facebook and Twitter.  
​
Curious about other volunteer opportunities? Take this short survey, and tell us how you'd like to help!

​Donations can be made to the League of Women Voters of Ohio – go to www.lwvohio.org, click donate, and in the memo please include a note indicating your contribution is for “Fair Districts.”

By Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio
​
Who draws the congressional districts now? The state legislature draws maps  with the help of political consultants. The political party in power in the Ohio General Assembly draws congressional districts. Democrats have drawn maps in the past. In 2001 and 2011, the Republicans drew the maps. This gave them an advantage. There are twelve districts that lean towards Republicans and twelve Republican Congressmen. There are only four districts that favor the Democratic Party and these are filled by Democrats.

When are congressional maps drawn? Maps are drawn every ten years after the census counts all the people. The next maps will be drawn in 2021.

What is gerrymandering? Gerrymandering is the manipulation of political districts to rig the outcome of elections to favor one political party over another. Both Democrats and Republicans have engaged in gerrymandering but this type of map-making reduces voter choices and leads to fewer competitive elections and elected officials who are less accountable to their constituents.  
​
How do map-makers create unfair districts? The party that has the majority can pack voters of the minority party into one district so that they reduce the number of minority districts. The majority party can also crack voters of the minority into a number of districts diluting their voting power.  

Are Ohio's districts really that much worse than the rest of the country? Ohio has some of the worst gerrymandered districts in the country. Read more about Ohio's gerrymandering problem here. Bring a congressional map with you.
​
I’m not a Democrat or Republican. Why should I care? Gerrymandering gives all voters fewer choices. Districts that lean heavily in one direction or the other mean that the real competition happens in the primary and elected officials are more tied to their political parties than their voters. Fair districts mean that all voters will have more meaningful elections.

Didn't voters already pass redistricting reform? In November 2015, Ohio voters overwhelming passed Issue 1, which creates redistricting reform for state legislative districts. Voters reformed the way state legislative maps are drawn by imposing strict rules for keeps communities together, prohibiting hyper-partisan gerrymandering and creates more transparency. It's time to create similar rules for the way that we draw Congressional districts. All of Ohio deserves fair districts and fair elections.

Why do the maps make a big difference? Computers have made it much easier to create congressional districts with a desired outcome. The partisan makeup of Ohio’s congressional districts perfectly predicted the political party of the winner in every single race in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Uncompetitive districts make it harder to hold our elected officials accountable.

How is this legal? The courts have yet to step in to stop partisan gerrymandering. There is a case from Wisconsin that fights partisan gerrymandering that is likely to go to the Supreme Court but the courts don’t fix this now.

How does this impact minorities? The Voting Rights Act is included in the Fair Districts = Fair Elections’ proposal for congressional redistricting reform. This federal law will continue to protect majority-minority districts but the reform will reduce hyper-packing of Democrats which may create additional opportunities for minority candidate.  

What do we want? Fair districts and fair elections.  

• We want the bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission to draw the congressional district lines.   
• We want a prohibition on gerrymandering or drawing a congressional map to favor or disfavor one political party over the other.
• We want districts that are compact, keep communities together and more transparent mapmaking.  

Will map-making really be more transparent? Map-making in 2011 was done behind closed doors and the public hearings were a dog and pony show. Hearings will be held before maps are created and after proposed maps are initially introduced so that the public can weigh in on them in a meaningful way. The Ohio Redistricting Commission will be required to explain the maps that they create (example: why the map splits up a township or how the new maps do not unfairly favor a particular party).

Have more questions? Give the Fair Districts = Fair Elections Coalition a phone call at 614-259-8388.