Gerrymandering/Redistricting

“We are in the last legislative session of this,” said Alexa Grant, a program advocate with Common Cause. “So we are the last line of defense.”

There's a tension between the bureau having enough time to produce accurate information and states and localities having to meet redistricting deadlines. And that could create ideal conditions for gerrymandering, says Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "There is a quiet conversation going on in legislatures right now about whether the delay actually might be a helpful game changer to allow them to pass midnight bills and do the dirty work outside of the scrutiny of the public," Feng says.  "We are heading into a redistricting cycle where it will be a bare-knuckle battle for control," Feng says. "Those who are in power are going to use every tool in the toolbox to try to eke out a win. And if that means passing gerrymandered maps in the dead of night, they're going to do it."

“The concern in some of those states is that the legislators will simply use a special session to secretly pass maps with zero public scrutiny, and then count on a tight timetable to eke out at least one election cycle” before a court could require new maps to be drawn, said Kathay Feng, the redistricting and representation director at Common Cause.

Amanda Gonzalez, executive director of Common Cause Colorado, said that doesn't leave much time for the mechanics of the redistricting process, even if there is technically enough time to draw maps. The commission, created by a 2018 ballot measure, mandates 21 public meetings as part of the mapmaking process along with an extensive public comment period. "What we're looking at right now is how do we maintain that process," she said. "We want to give the commission time to review the information that comes to them, give community members time to look at the census data that comes in, and everybody's gonna want time to, to look at the data."

Common Cause Maryland, a redistricting reform advocacy group, said that the commission “helps our collective efforts to ensure Maryland’s line-drawing process is open and transparent.”

Today, the Common Cause Education Fund is pleased to announce it is a recipient of Lumina Foundation’s racial equity funding program to expand the Student Action Alliance. The Student Action Alliance is a program for students of color that is led by a team of Black millennials. The program focuses on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and students of color at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). The two-year $200,000 grant, which is part of the Lumina Foundation’s $15 million effort to help eradicate systematic racism, will allow the Common Cause Education Fund to increase its staff capacity and expand our program to additional HBCUs and to other Minority Serving Institutions.