Last year , states and localities re-drew the boundaries of congressional, state legislative, and local government voting districts. Redistricting is supposed to reflect changes in population and ensure that everyone is fairly represented.
We organized people power across the country to ensure that the public played an active role in shaping our own representation. Learn more here about this work and our efforts to create fairer and less partisan processes for drawing districts. Learn more about 2021 independent redistricting commissions. Read our redistricting principles.
In the States
Where has redistricting reform passed?
Common Cause has led the fight to implement reforms across the country that give Americans a voice in their own representation. Democracy activists have successfully pushed for reforms that make redistricting more fair and transparent. Click on a state to learn more about these important victories.
Map Key
7 states with Independent Citizen Commission (Partisan Balance) | Red
1 Independent Citizen Commission (Partisan Imbalance) | Dark Purple
5 states with Advisory Commission (No Elected Officials) | Dark Blue
1 states with strict Constitutional Standards | Orange
7 states with Politician Commission |Light Blue
1 Nonpartisan Legislative Staff | Light Purple
Learn more about our state campaigns to see how you can get involved in your community.
Redistricting Litigation
Common Cause is actively involved in litigation across the county to challenge gerrymanders and defend redistricting reforms in court. Learn more about our efforts.
In Academia
In January of 2019, Common Cause collaborated with Duke University’s POLIS and the Sanford School of Public Policy on the Reason, Reform, and Redistricting Conference. This event brought together some of the top activists, litigators, and academics working to end gerrymandering across the country. Watch video from almost every panel discussion here.
Common Cause’s Partisan Gerrymandering Writing Competition is generating important scholarship and making a difference in court. Common Cause sponsors a writing competition to generate academic papers useful to litigators to make the case that partisan gerrymandering violates the U.S. Constitution. One winner served as an expert witness in Common Cause v. Rucho. After a federal court ruled that Virginia’s congressional map was an illegal racial gerrymander, we collaborated with another set of winners to submit a brief to the court. This brief, the only one of its kind, guided the court expert chosen to redraw districts by assessing the partisan fairness of proposed replacement maps the public submitted.