# Re-districting: When does it happen, and controlled by whom? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335 "2020-04-22T11:31:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/21 "2020-04-25T20:53:01Z")
Ouch! OK. I mistype all the time. The "Last edited by septimus; Today at 02:39 AM… " in the previous post was because my fingers mis-hit and got ‘2018’ for ‘2019.’ I remember thinking your “New York lost 130,000 people between 2020 and 2019” was peculiar — why the 2020/2019 reversal — but the mistake didn’t dawn on me. So you don’t have any inside info on the 2020 NY number. 🙂 Of course I already had the Census numbers. :smack: Anyway, I stand by my claims that - NY is quite close to the borderline between losing one seat and losing two seats; - the virus _might_ increase the chance that NY loses two seats; - if NY does lose 2 then Alabama, possibly with the aid of shenanigans, is likely to to be the state that gets that extra seat (i.e. that AL will remain at 9 seats rather than dropping to 8 as expected). ETA: In one post I wrote > [@](#): > > My suspicion that your figure is wrong is strengthened by the fact that New York’s 77,000 drop the year before appears to be record-setting. Here are, per Census Bureau reports 2010-2019, the 15 biggest state population declines over the last decade: > 2019 New\_York, -76790 > … I don’t think it would be possible for you to study that post (which quotes your typo) without coming up with an Aha! An extra 20 seconds of attention by you would have saved me several minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/22 "2020-04-26T01:07:13Z")
Message boards are good when they give you time to think and even research an answer before you post. They’re bad when a simple misunderstanding that would take a moment to clear up in conversation derails an exhange indefiniately. I’ll leave that paragraph alone. It says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/23 "2020-04-26T06:41:36Z")
The main idea I was thinking of when I started this thread was: After 10 years of Republican gerrymandering in certain states, who will be in charge of the re-gerrymandering (or un-gerrymandering) for the next ten years? From all the responses above, it sounds like the _current_ gerrymanders will still be in effect for the upcoming November election, but the newly elected or re-elected administrations in the various states will draw the districts for the next 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/24 "2020-04-26T11:41:36Z")
Yes. Another reason why November’s election is extremely important. Ousting Trump without flipping some State Houses (and the Senate) will be a hollow victory. Sorry for the hijack (and the _nine messages_ wasted pursuing a typo :smack: ), but the Census — which IS controlled by today’s incumbents — is important, not only as to House seats per state, but as to the redistrictings within states. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/25 "2020-04-26T12:32:06Z")
Worth noting, some states have referendum processes by which the citizens can directly implement things like redistricting reforms without cooperation from the legislature. So in those states, the party in control of the legislature can’t gerrymander themselves into a permanent unassailable unrepresentative majority. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/26 "2020-04-26T17:13:18Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > From all the responses above, it sounds like the _current_ gerrymanders will still be in effect for the upcoming November election, but the newly elected or re-elected administrations in the various states will draw the districts for the next 10 years. That’s mostly correct, and its large effect can be seen by the Republicans’ widespread taking of legislatures in 2010. The [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/State_Legislative_and_Congressional_Redistricting_after_the_2010_Census)page is a must read. As I mentioned above, though, the states have to wait for Congress to do a new distribution of seats. If for any reason - and this census may provide one - Congress does not reallocate in the year after the census, then it’s possible for subsequent elections to produce the state legislatures responsible for drawing the new districts. Additionally, not all states have their elections in even years. Some states will have a 2021 election that may choose those in charge. To add a complication, states work in their usual independent and individualistic ways, per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting). > [@](#): > > Seven states have only a single representative in the United States House of Representatives for the entire state, because of their low populations. These are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. These states do not need redistricting for the House and elect members on a state-wide at-large basis. > > In 25 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to approval by the state governor. To reduce the role that legislative politics might play, thirteen states (Alaska[a], Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Montana\*\*, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington) determine congressional redistricting by an independent or bipartisan redistricting commission.[2] Five states: Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont[c], and Virginia give independent bodies authority to propose redistricting plans, but preserve the role of legislatures to approve them. Arkansas has a commission composed of its governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. > > By law, the 43 states with more than one Representative must redistrict after each decennial census to account for population shifts within the state as well as (when necessary) to add or remove congressional districts. States are not prevented from redistricting at any time between censuses up to and including redistricting prior to each congressional election, provided such redistricting conforms to various federal laws. However, “mid-decade” redistricting proposals (such as what occurred in 2003 in Texas) have typically been highly controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335/27 "2020-04-26T21:27:19Z")
And one of those states with a single Representative, Montana, is one of the ones that’s expected to gain a seat this census, so they’ll have to start districting, which they haven’t done in decades (I was surprised to learn that, for most of the state’s history, it’s had two seats.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-districting-when-does-it-happen-and-controlled-by-whom/852335.md?page=1)