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In the United States, a redistricting commission is a body, other than the usual state legislative bodies, established to draw
In the United States, a redistricting commission is a body, other than the usual state legislative bodies, established to draw electoral district
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
boundaries. Generally the intent is to avoid gerrymandering
In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
, or at least the appearance of gerrymandering, by specifying a nonpartisan or bipartisan body to comprise the commission drawing district boundaries.
Nonpartisan or bipartisan commissions as of 2010
Currently, 21 U.S. states have some form of non-partisan or bipartisan redistricting commission. Of these 21 states, 13 use redistricting commissions to exclusively draw electoral district boundaries (see below). A 14th state, Iowa, uses a special redistricting process that uses neither the state legislature nor an independent redistricting commission to draw electoral district boundaries (see below). In 2015, theU.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled in ''Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission
''Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission'', 576 U.S. 787 (2015), was a United States Supreme Court case where the Court upheld the right of Arizona voters to remove the authority to draw election districts from ...
'' that redistricting commissions such as Arizona's, whose redistricting commission process is independent of the state legislature, were constitutional.
;Table key
For purposes of these tables:
* ''Bipartisan'' means a substantial majority of the commission's membership is reserved for members of the two major U.S. political parties.
* ''Non-partisan'' means that either, a) the partisan makeup of the commission is not specified beforehand, or b) a substantial portion (i.e. more than one) of the membership of the commission is reserved for political independents or members of so-called third parties.
Iowa is a special case:
Additionally, Maine and Vermont use advisory committees for redistricting. Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas have backup redistricting commissions, if efforts at redistricting via the usual legislative process fail.
2021 redistricting
In 2021, following the 2020 census, a number of states will begin using new, non-partisan commissions or systems to redraw their legislative and/or congressional districtsSee also
*Redistricting
Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...
* Boundary commissions (United Kingdom)
The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions:
* Boundary Commission for E ...
, four bodies in the United Kingdom having equivalent function to state redistricting commissions
References
{{USRedistrictinglaw * Redistricting in the United States