“It’s easy to draw maps that essentially rig the results one way or the other,” says Li. “What that means is that Congress doesn’t look like America; it’s not representative. And that’s not what the Framers wanted; they thought the House of Representatives should reflect the people.”
This year, the pandemic caused delays in finishing the 2020 Census. As a result, states got the final numbers on who lives where months later than usual. That means redrawing the maps is also happening later. And so there will be less time to challenge maps in court.
“In many states, maps that come out of the legislature are not the final maps because they’re discriminatory in one way or another, and courts strike them down,” Li says.
Despite this year’s challenges, observers do see some reasons to be hopeful. In the past decade, at least six states have changed their rules to make redistricting fairer. Common Cause, a nonpartisan voting advocacy group, says there are now 19 states with some kind of formal checks and balances on the redistricting process. And many citizen activists, including young people (see sidebar: “Ending Gerrymandering”), continue to press for reforms.