Redistricting commission

A redistricting commission is a body, other than the usual state legislative bodies, designated to draw electoral district lines. Generally the intent is to avoid gerrymandering, or at least the appearance of gerrymandering, by specifying a nonpartisan or bipartisan body to comprise the commission drawing district lines. However, a number of these commissions, much like some state boards of election, are set up to give the majority party more seats on the commission, or effective control of the commission; see e.g. the New Jersey Redistricting Commission.

Currently, twenty-one (21) U.S. states currently utilize some form of non-partisan or bipartisan redistricting commission.

Of the 21 U.S. states that utilize redistricting commissions, the 13 of those states that use redistricting commissions to exclusively draw electoral district lines are listed in the table below. A fourteenth state, Iowa, uses a special redistricting process that uses neither the state Legislature nor an independent redistricting commission to draw electoral district lines (see below).

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission that redistricting commissions such as Arizona's, whose redistricting commission process is independent of the state legislature, were constitutional.

Table Key – For purposes of this table:

A special case is Iowa:

Additionally, Maine and Vermont use advisory committees for redistricting. Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas use backup redistricting commissions, if efforts at redistricting via the usual legislative process fail.

In 2008 California voters approved Proposition 11 amending the state's constitution creating a bi-partisan Citizens Redistricting Commission composed of non-office-holding citizens.

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