Redistricting It's All Over but the Suing: Many states' maps will be challenged in court, but political change is likely to be minimal at the state level. At the federal level, it might be another story.

• Author: Williams, Ben
• Position: ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING

Lines have been drawn, but that doesn't mean redistricting is over. One very large step remains: lawsuits.

Redistricting is at least a mree-step process. First, states prepare for action by supporting U.S. Census Bureau efforts to ensure a complete count, gathering and scrubbing all relevant and legal data, soliciting public input and learning how to use their line-drawing software. Next, states do the line-drawing itself for the U.S. House and state legislative districts that will be in place for the next 10 years. Finally, the maps are challenged and lawsuits kick in. And that's where states are now.

No matter how those suits go, however, the likeliest outcome is minimal if any political change on the state level. At the federal level, it might be another story.

Paving the Road: State Redistricting Systems

Any analysis of redistricting must address two questions: Who draws the lines? And what rules, or criteria, govern how those lines are drawn? The U.S. Supreme Court's one-person, one-vote principle requires states to redraw their legislative and congressional districts after each decennial census. Typically, state lawmakers draw the lines, but some states--15 for legislative districts, 10 for congressional districts--give that power to a commission or board outside the legislature.

The criteria governing redistricting fall into two broad categories: traditional and emerging. Traditional criteria, such as how compact a district's shape must be or that all parts of a district must be connected to other parts, have been on the books for decades. Emerging criteria are aimed at regulating partisanship in redistricting. Typical examples include requiring districts to be competitive or prohibiting districts from favoring or disfavoring political parties or candidates.

Taken together, who draws the lines and how they're drawn constitute a state's redistricting system. No two systems are exactly alike. And with changes enacted between 2010 and 2020, the systems are more varied than ever.

Changes to State Laws Since 2010

State legislatures are the tried-and-true redistricting entity. Given the power to redistrict by the U.S. Constitution, legislatures have held this responsibility since the nation's founding. Redistricting commissions didn't even exist until 1956, when Arkansas created its Reapportionment Board. Since then, about two states per decade have shifted redistricting power from the legislature to a commission.

The 2010s were no...