The 2022 election was the first to use new voting districts drawn from updated census data. These districts usually last a decade, but could be short-lived in some states.
Court challenges could force lawmakers or special commissions to draw another set of maps before the 2024 elections for representatives in Congress and state capitols.
That means voters who just moved into new U.S. House or state legislative districts could be grouped with different communities when they go to the polls next time.
Here are some places where voting districts could change and the reasons why.
RACE IN REDISTRICTION
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that Alabama’s congressional districts likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of black voters.
The ruling means the state’s Republican-led legislature and GOP governor will likely have to draw new U.S. House districts in which black voters are at or near a majority in two of Alabama’s seven districts , instead of just one.
The ruling could also lead to new US House districts in Louisiana and potentially Georgia.
While considering the Alabama case, the Supreme Court had stayed a similar lower court ruling that Louisiana’s districts should be redrawn to create a majority-black second district. It is likely to rise. A federal judge in Georgia also said last year that some of its state legislative and congressional districts likely violated the Voting Rights Act, but no final ruling has been issued.
Alabama’s decision is “breathing new life” into similar cases across the country, said attorney Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.
Challenges to voting rights laws are in the early stages in Texas. The lawsuits also allege that state legislative districts dilute the voting power of Hispanic residents in Washington and Native Americans in North Dakota.
Although based on different legal theories, other lawsuits allege that the districts were drawn to the detriment of minority votes in Arkansas and Florida. The Supreme Court has also agreed to review a lower court ruling that a South Carolina congressional district discriminates against black voters.
A NEW LOOK FOR NEW ELECTIONS
New Assembly districts are also available in New York. The state’s highest court last year struck down maps approved by the Democratic-led legislature for the U.S. House, state Senate and state Assembly. He ordered a lower court to impose new U.S. House and state Senate districts for the 2022 elections. But the justices determined it was too late to propose new Assembly districts before the last election.
Instead, the courts said the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission should draw new districts. The commission in April approved a revised Assembly map, which received quick approval from the Legislature and the governor to go into effect for the 2024 election.
A pending lawsuit asks that the independent commission also be allowed to draw new US House maps before the 2024 elections.
In North Carolina, a Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court ruled last year that congressional districts drawn by the Republican-led General Assembly were an illegal partisan gerrymander and instead allowed that a justice-drawn map be used for the 2022 election. While that case was on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, voters elected a Republican majority to the state Supreme Court. In April, those justices reversed the earlier ruling and ruled that there was no constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.
Whatever the U.S. Supreme Court does with the original appeal, state lawmakers plan to redraw congressional districts before the next election, giving Republicans a chance to win more seats than the current 7th Division -7.
In Ohio, the state Supreme Court rejected several maps drawn by Republican officials for US House, state Senate and state House districts. But the courts allowed the 2022 election to go forward anyway using those maps, ordering that new districts be drawn before the next election.
Republican state lawmakers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Congress’ rejection of the map. If they lose, they will have to draw new maps. Meanwhile, a Republican-led commission tasked with drawing state legislative maps is expected to meet later this year to make another attempt.
MORE PARTISAN CHALLENGES
Cases are pending before the high courts in New Mexico and Utah that claim their congressional districts are illegal partisan gerrymanders, in the New Mexico case benefiting Democrats and in the Republican aid case in Utah.
The New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments in January but has not ruled on whether to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Republicans. The suit contends that Democratic lawmakers illegally split the state’s southeastern tip, an oil-producing Republican stronghold, into three districts “for gross political gain.” Democrats won all three districts in the 2022 election.
The Utah Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in July on whether a trial can move forward in a lawsuit alleging Republican lawmakers engaged in illegal partisan gerrymandering by dividing Salt Lake County, the politically most competitive, among four congressional districts. Republicans won all four districts in last year’s election.
In Kentucky, a district court last November rejected a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit brought by Democrats against state House and Congressional maps adopted by the Republican-led Legislature. This case has been appealed to the Supreme Court of the State.
WISCONSIN TOO?
While there is no current redistricting challenge in Wisconsin, there could be by late summer. This could open up the potential for new districts ahead of the 2024 election.
Voters in April elected a new Democrat-backed justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ensuring that liberals would take majority control when Justice Janet Protasiewicz officially joins the court in August.
Protasiewicz said during the campaign that he thought the current maps were “stuck” and wanted to revise them.
That has raised hopes among Democrats that the high court might be more receptive to a lawsuit alleging that current state legislative and congressional districts give Republicans an unfair advantage. Although the current districts were approved by the court, they were inspired by previous districts drawn by Republicans that gave the GOP a strong lead over the past decade.
Jeff Mandell, a Madison attorney, said he and others opposed to the maps plan to file a legal challenge soon after Protasiewicz joins the court.
“We believe the people of Wisconsin deserve an opportunity for this new court to take a fresh look at this issue,” Mandell said.
