NEW JERSEY

Background:

New Jersey’s 40 state legislative districts are drawn by a ten-member commission largely composed of politicians. Each of the state’s two political parties selects five commissioners. An 11th member is selected by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve as a tiebreaker if the commission cannot agree on maps by the deadline. Voters in each of the 40 legislative districts elect one senator and two assembly members.

The congressional lines are drawn by a commission composed of 13 political appointees. Commissioners are chosen by the majority and minority leaders in the state senate and state assembly and the chairs of the state’s two major political parties, who then collectively choose a 13th commission member. If the partisan appointees to the commissions cannot agree on a 13th member, the state Supreme Court selects a 13th member from among the names provided to it by the two partisan delegations. The state must draw all new districts using census data adjusted to count incarcerated individuals at their last known pre-incarceration address.

The congressional map was challenged by Republican members of the commission, who alleged that the tiebreaker, former State Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, had ulterior motives in moving forward with the Democrat-supported map. The New Jersey State Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the lawsuit on February 3, 2022, finding that the lawsuit did not have legal merit.

Community of Interest Story

During this cycle, considerable effort was made to ensure a proportional number of majority-Black districts across the state. According to the U.S. Census, 15.3% of the state of New Jersey is Black, yet only one of 40 state legislative districts is majority Black. Fair Districts New Jersey, a coalition focused on fair, representative, and community-driven redistricting (and led by the League of Women Voters of New Jersey) worked to create a map that brought together communities of interest (COIs) while meeting all legal requirements.

The coalition was able to draw three majority-Black state legislative districts in the Newark metro area.53 Community organizers found the final map to be packed in District 28, which was about 72% Black. Conversely, the unity map was able to draw three majority-Black districts around the Newark, Orange, East Orange, and Montclair areas; it was endorsed by a wide swath of civil rights organizations such as the NAACP State Conference, the Latino Action Network, and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Despite the outcome, organizers found that this cycle there was unprecedented public participation, and expressed hope that raising awareness on these redistricting map concerns will help to mobilize voters, increase turnout, and spur advocacy for the next redistricting cycle. Coalition members of Fair Districts New Jersey noted that the group might pivot to redistricting reform in anticipation of the next cycle.

Grades:

Overall State Grade: B-

Disenfranchisement of Black voters: As outlined in the COI story above, community organizers found the commission was not receptive to public testimony about creating majority-Black districts nor to the potential configuration of majority-Black districts afforded by the unity map.

Public access: Feedback on public access was mixed; while organizers appreciated the public hearings and ability to participate virtually, and overall found that the opportunities to participate were greater than in the past, people expressed the desire for increased transparency and data sharing. These areas are expanded on in the following section.

Lessons Learned: