final what's at stake minneapolis
TRANSCRIPT
Redistricting 101
presented byMike Dean, Common Cause Minnesota
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
What is redistricting?
• Every 10 years (at least), after the census
• Redrawing of district lines to ensure one voter, one vote
• Sorts voters into groups, distributes political power, combines or divides communities
What is redistricting?
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
April 1, 2010 ―
December 31, 2010―
January 10, 2011 ―
April 1, 2011 ―
May 23, 2011 ---
February 21, 2012 ―
April 2,
2012 ―
November 6 2012
―
When does redistricting happen?
Minnesota congressional and legislative lines drawn
Census count to President
Apportionment to U.S. HouseRedistricting data to states
Census Day
Precincts and city wards
Election Day.
End of legislative session
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
If you care about
representation, and you care
about political power,
then you care about
redistricting.
should
Why does redistricting matter?
Why does redistricting matter?
• Politicians choosing their voters
• Eliminating incumbents or challengers
• Diluting minority votes and splitting up communities
BarackObama’
shouse
Why does redistricting matter?
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
• In most states, including Minnesota, the state legislature draws their own and congressional district lines
• Some states have advisory commissions to suggest lines, backup commissions in case legislature can’t draw the lines, or political or independent commissions which draw all the lines.
Who draws the lines?
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
SenateAssembly
Not nested
Nested
Nesting
• Concerns the appearance of the district(or how close people live to each other)
Compactness
• All parts of the district are adjacent to each other
Contiguity
• Follow county / city / town / ward lines
• But may split populations in strange ways
Political Boundaries
Cracking Packing
Minority Representation
• Social interests• Cultural interests• Racial / ethnic interests• Economic / trade interests • Geographic interests• Communication and
transportation networks• Media markets• Urban and rural interests• Occupations and lifestyles
Communities of Interest
Two primary models:
• Prohibition on undue favoritism
• Affirmatively encourage competition
Partisanship and competition
• Politicians choosing their voters• Incumbent neutrality• Equal numbers of Democrats
and Republicans
BarackObam
a’shouse
2000
2002
Remember: Competition can take different forms
Current Criteria in Minnesota• Population equality
– No deviation for Congressional districts
– 2% maximum for Legislative districts
• Minority rights– Increase minority
representation when possible
• Compactness– General requirement, not
defined or well enforced• Competition
– No rules
• Statewide partisan balance– No rules
• Preserving political boundaries– Should be done when
possible• Communities of interest
– Should be preserved; not pre-defined
• Nesting– House districts must be
nested in Senate districts
Tonight’s conversation
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Who?
• How?
• Q & A
www.drawminneapolis.org
Thank you!