Texas in the News Quiz October 25, 2021

Redistricting 2021

Reapportionment (often called redistricting because the process means drawing new lines for federal and state legislative districts) is a decennial affair that mixes politics, law, and statistics. Which incumbents are drawn into new districts, are the new district lines drawn in a discriminatory way, and where the state’s population growth is are all questions Texans ask every 10 years when the process begins again.

Texas is booming—the state added close to four million new people since 2010 according to the census. Most of the growth in the state is cantered in the state’s urban areas and among Hispanic residents. But not every part of the state is growing. Rural areas are struggling with population declines, which limits the quantity and quality of representation.

State lawmakers are currently debating the newly crafted maps. Mapmakers have to include at least two important legal features to new district lines: equal or near equal populations and the perseveration of the right to vote regardless of race, color, and language. These considerations have been in place for decades but recent Supreme Court cases like Shelby County v. Holder (decided in 2013) remove the “preclearance” process, the requirement that maps be submitted to the federal government before they are passed.

Read the following articles to learn more about reapportionment and redistricting:


. How many new US Congress seats did Texas receive because of the population growth in the last decade?

. What year was the Voting Rights Act passed?

. By how much can districts vary from each other in population size?

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