Blog Post

Gerrymander Gazette: Slaying the Prison Gerrymander Edition

 

Trainings and Events

  • CHARGE Trainings
    • CHARGE partners will host a Redistricting Community College session on Thursday, August 26 (TODAY!) at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET for those who might have missed previous sessions. This will focus primarily on tips for testifying and providing input to those drawing redistricting maps. Register here.
    • Evaluating and Analyzing Redistricting Maps for Advocacy Campaigns: In anticipation of proposed maps coming out from official entities and interested groups, this webinar will deepen community leaders’ knowledge of how to evaluate and analyze those maps, including learning how to evaluate for Voting Rights Act compliance, looking at other redistricting criteria, learning how to use open-access redistricting software. This training will take place on August 31, 2021 at 3:00 pm ET. The goal is to equip community leaders to effectively analyze and evaluate proposed district maps in order to advocate effectively for their communities. Register here.
  • All IN for Democracy, Indiana’s Coalition for Independent Redistricting, announced a first-in-the-state community mapping contest that allows Hoosiers to win cash prizes for drawing fair district maps in this year’s redistricting cycle. The winning maps will be used as the standard by which to judge the maps drawn by the Indiana General Assembly and will be a valuable tool to hold them accountable for the mapping decisions they make. All IN for Democracy will urge the legislature to pass the citizen-drawn maps instead of the partisan-designed maps produced under an opaque and conflicted process. Learn more here.
  • The Hawaiʻi State Reapportionment Commission will meet on Thursday, August 26 at 11:00 a.m. (HST) via Zoom. Find the Zoom meeting link and view the upcoming meeting agenda here.
  • New Mexico: Voter Expression, Not Voter Suppression: August 28, 2021 from 1:00 to 3:15 pm MT. Sponsored by the nonpartisan Southern New Mexico Suffrage Alliance: American Association of University Women (AAUW), Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office, League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico (LWVSNM), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP- DAC), GFWC Progress Club of Las Cruces, and a few individuals. Register here.
  • Common Cause Pennsylvania is hosting office hours for anyone who has already received training on Districtr and community mapping in Pennsylvania to ask questions, practice drawing community maps, and connect with other mappers and trainers. If you are interested in becoming a community mapper in Pennsylvania, email Khalif Ali at kali@commoncause.org. Office hours will take place at noon ET on Aug 27, Sep 3, and Sep 10. Register here.
  • Common Cause Maryland is organizing people power across the state to ensure Marylanders play an active role in shaping their own representation. Join them on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021 at 11am ET for a Redistricting Teach-In. The teach-in will cover the latest MD redistricting updates and include trainings on how to testify, map your community, write letters to the editor, and more. Don’t miss out! RSVP to join us! 
  • Florida Redistricting: Join Equal Ground for “Understanding Florida’s 2020 Redistricting Process” on August 31 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm ET. Now that the census data has been released, we will dive into what Floridians can expect in the upcoming state and congressional redistricting process.  Register here.

Resources 

  • Common Cause and Prison Policy Initiative have partnered on the creation of a step-by-step guide on how to count incarcerated people at their previous address for redistricting purposes. This process avoids the skewing of population counts that occurs when counting imprisoned people where they are being imprisoned. View this resource here.

News


This newsletter has been produced by Common Cause and compiled by Dan Vicuna. Subscribe to the Gerrymander Gazette here. For more information or to pass along news, contact Dan Vicuna.

Read past issues here.

Close

Close

Hello! It looks like you're joining us from {state}.

Want to see what's happening in your state?

Go to Common Cause {state}