More than half of the states in the U.S. are at “extreme risk” of congressional districts being drawn to unfairly favor one party, according to a new analysis of state redistricting processes by RepresentUs, a non-partisan advocacy group focused on election reform.
Why it matters: The states at risk of gerrymandering — a process the group says can produce “rigged maps” — include battlegrounds like Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
The big picture: This year’s redistricting process is already more chaotic than usual. And the outcomes could boost one party’s political candidates for a decade.
- “It’s really just open season in a way that it never has been,” RepresentUs CEO Josh Silver told Axios.
- That’s due in large part to Supreme Court rulings since the last census that block partisan gerrymandering lawsuits from federal courts and ended requirements for some states to get their maps pre-cleared by the Justice Department.
What to watch: The U.S. is in a period of rapid demographic change, moving toward becoming a majority-minority population.
- “At the end of a 10-year [redistricting] cycle, the state can look very different than it did before,” the lead researcher on the project, Jack Noland, told Axios. “That is all the more reason that we need fairer lines from the beginning, to sort of withstand those changes.”