Congress is about to get a shake-up. Here’s what’s coming with new census data – By Jane C. Timm, Char Adams and Suzanne Gamboa (NBC News) / Aug 12 2021
The stakes are higher than ever before this cycle, experts and voting rights advocates say, with fewer safeguards for voters of color.
The Census Bureau is set to release the long-awaited data states need to draw new voting maps Thursday, kicking off what advocates fear will be the most hectic, contentious redistricting cycle yet.
The detailed, local-level population results arrive months behind schedule thanks to Covid-related delays, which means the notoriously complex and sometimes secretive process of determining congressional district boundaries will happen more quickly as states try to finish before the end of the year. It’s a once-a-decade undertaking coinciding with the decennial census, a population count that decides everything from congressional representation to the distribution of federal aid.
Redistricting has the power to shape elections for years. But this cycle, experts and voting rights advocates agreed, the stakes are higher than ever. New maps drawn by state Republicans could gerrymander Democrats out of their slim majority in the House, results of the 2022 midterms aside, experts said. It’s also the first time the redistricting process is occurring since the Supreme Court gutted key federal protections against discriminatory maps in 2013 while giving a green light to partisan gerrymandering in 2019, leaving advocates fearful that the boundaries could significantly dilute the political power of people of color even as minorities are driving the country’s population growth.
“From the standpoint of voters of color in the South, a train is headed down the tracks, and we’ve been able to see this coming for a long time. The reality is in places of the South you cannot do a partisan gerrymander without targeting voters of colors,” said Michael Li, a redistricting expert and senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “Because of residential segregation, it’s easier to break apart or pack together communities of color to move the dial.”
