Lessons Learned from the 2021 Redistricting Cycle: Simone Leeper, Campaign Legal Center

Simone Leeper, redistricting expert at the Campaign Legal Center, led a team in reviewing the outcome of redistricting commissions in the 2021-2022 cycle. She provided insights into best practices in designing Independent Redistricting Commissions (IRCs), with some case studies from states with varying commission designs.
Redistricting commissions should be:
-Truly independent and insulated from legislative and other political influence.
-Vested with the full authority of redistricting.
-Made up entirely of citizen commissioners who are broadly representative of the diversity of their state.
-Evenly split between the primary political party, secondary political party, and Independents.
-Large enough to disperse responsibilities, encourage collaboration and compromise, and prevent one or two outlier commissioners from derailing the process.
-Made up of commissioners empowered to understand and make decisions regarding the complexities of redistricting.
-Assisted by trustworthy and knowledgeable staff and advisors, selected through a process designed to give commissions a broad base of options.
-Guided by clearly defined and ranked criteria protective of the rights of every voter.
-Making decisions and drawing maps with processes aimed toward building consensus as opposed to rewarding contention.
-Redistricting through a participatory, inclusive, and transparent process.
-Required to demonstrate how the final maps incorporate public input.
-Ensuring the enactment of fair maps through a clear, specific fallback mechanism.
Find the full report here: campaignlegal....