GERRYMANDERING: OUR DEMOCRACY AT RISK RESOURCES

WHAT IS GERRYMANDERING?

• Our ClassACT gerrymandering primer Gerrymandering: Our Democracy at Risk, created by Ryan O’Connell, Jim Harbison, and edited by Sallie Gouverneur, outlines what gerrymandering is, how it occurs in key states, and what you can do to help. 

• The Redistricting Landscape, 2021–22, Michael Li, The Brennan Center for Justice

• Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, David Daley 

• The difference between racial and partisan gerrymandering, Carlos Waters, Vox

THE WAR ON VOTING RIGHTS

• The War on Voting Rights-Part 1, Ryan O’Connell, The Wallstreet Democrat

• The War On Voting Rights-Part 2, Ryan O’Connell, The Wallstreet Democrat

• Redistricting Cycle Poses High Risk of Racial Discrimination in the South, New Projections Show, Mireya Navarro, Brennan Center for Justice 

• Why Your Ballots Are Boring, Gail Collins, NYT

• Georgia G.O.P. Passes Major Law to Limit Voting Amid Nationwide Push, Nick Corasaniti, New York Times

• Manchin defends bucking voting rights bill and digs in against eliminating the filibuster, Devan Cole, Aileen Graef and Daniella Diaz, CNN

• How This Voting Rights Bill Could Turn the Next Election into a Clusterfuck, The Daily Beast, Jessica Huseman

BATTLING BACK

• Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, David Daley

• Slay the Dragon, documentary on Hulu 

• To Beat the Gerrymander, Think Outside the Lines, Steve Mulroy and David Daley, The New Republic

• Number of states using redistricting commissions growing, The Associated Press

• In historic change, Virginia voters approve bipartisan commission to handle political redistricting, Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury

JUDICIAL GERRYMANDERING

• Lawmakers are targeting the courts that could shoot down voter suppression laws, Patrick Berry and Alicia Bannon, Washington Post

• Legislative Assaults on State Courts — 2021, Patrick Berry, Alicia Bannon, and Douglas Keith, Brennan Center for Justice

• Rucho vs Common Cause Court Case, Brennan Center for Justice 

• After barely surviving 2020, Pa.’s democracy might not survive the Republican effort to gerrymander the court, Editorial Staff, Philadelphia Inquirer

• What is Preclearance? The Rose Institute

THE MATHEMATICS OF GERRYMANDERING

• How to Quantify (and Fight) Gerrymandering, by Erica Klarreich, Quanta Magazine, April 4, 2017

• The Mathematicians Who Want to Save Democracy, by Carrie Arnold, Nature, June 7, 2017

• Geometry versus Gerrymandering, by Moon Duchin, Scientific American, November 1, 2018

EDUCATE

• Read our ClassACT gerrymandering primer, created by Ryan O’Connell, Jim Harbison, and edited by Sallie Gouverneur. It outlines what gerrymandering is, how it occurs in key states, and what you can do to help

• Learn about the For the People Act: annotated guide from the Brennan Center

SUPPORT

• Fair Maps groups such as OneVirginia2021 focus on grassroots organizing and lobbying for specific legislation in the state where they are established.

• People Powered Fair Maps is a national redistricting program of the League of Women Voters focused on creating fair political maps nationwide in all 50 states + D.C., in partnership with numerous other organizations.

• The League of Women Voters has chapters throughout the nation. They have been instrumental in educating the public and lobbying to improve redistricting practices, among other governance issues.

• Common Cause, which is more centralized, has also dedicated significant resources to studying gerrymandering issues in specific states and educating voters.

• The Legal Defense Fund has produced a guide to gerrymandering targeted to communities of color 

• The Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy institute at New York University School of Law, produces in-depth research on voting reform issues. The Center has recently published “The Redistricting Landscape, 2021-22” and “Why Congress Must Pass the For the People Act.”

• The Princeton Gerrymandering Project lists the relevant organizations that focus on gerrymandering issues in each state. Just click on a particular state on the website’s map to find the appropriate contacts. The Project’s website also contains extensive information on gerrymandering issues.

• All on The Line focuses on combating gerrymandering. Eric Holder, who served as Attorney General under President Obama, founded the organization.

• The Virginia Public Access Project, a voter-approved constitutional amendment makes a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers and eight citizens responsible for drawing legislative districts