lesson one what is redistricting
this lesson will cover the 2020 census
and the redistricting data program
and discuss what are redistricting data
redistricting is the redrawling of
electoral
district boundaries every 10 years to
account for population shifts
and growth during the previous decade
the decennial census and redistricting
go
hand in hand article 1
section 2 of the constitution directs
that the census
or enumeration be taken so every 10
years starting with the first census
in 1790 the u.s census bureau
conducts a census once only once and
in the right place to determine the
number of
people living in the united states for
the purpose of reapportionment
the data collected by the decennial
census
are used to determine the number of
seats each state
has and the u.s house of representatives
the population in 1790
was three million nine hundred and
twenty nine thousand
six hundred and five and
congress used these results to apportion
105 seats among 15
states according to the results of the
2020 census
there were 331 million
449 281 people
living in the united states as of april
1
2020 and 435
seats to a portion among 50 states
with each decennial census the number of
congressional seats
each state gets in the house of
representatives can change
depending on the population
state legislative bodies also use the
decennial census
data for the purpose of redistricting
required by law under the provisions of
title 13 section 141
c of the united states code the
secretary of commerce
is required to provide the officers or
public bodies having initial
responsibility
for the legislative apportionment or
districting of each state
with the opportunity to specify
geographic
areas such as blocks or voting districts
for which they wish to receive decennial
census
population counts by april 1
of the year following the decennial
census
the secretary is required to furnish
state officials
or their designees with population
counts for american indian
areas counties cities census blocks
and state specified congressional
legislative
and voting districts the 2020 census
redistricting data program
has five phases phase one is the block
boundary suggestion project the block
boundary
suggestion project provides states with
the opportunity to submit their
suggestions for the 2020 census
tabulation block inventory a block
is the smallest geographic area
for which census data are available
blocks
often use natural boundaries such as
streets and rivers
suggestions were made by designating the
desirability
of linear features to use as 2020 census
tabulation
block boundaries in addition states had
the opportunity
to submit suggested legal boundary
updates
as well as updates to other geographic
areas
these actions allowed states to
construct some of the small area
geography they needed for legislative
redistricting
participation in phase one of the
redistricting data program
was conducted through the non-partisan
liaison designated
by each state phase one was conducted in
two cycles
an initial identification of the updates
needed
and a verification cycle to ensure
the suggested updates were accurately
applied phase two is the voting district
project
which provided states the opportunity to
submit their voting districts
for example wards and precincts for
inclusion in the 2020 census
redistricting
data tabulations this ensures states can
get the 2020 census data they need
for their voting districts as was the
case in phase one
during phase two states had the
opportunity to submit
suggested legal boundary updates as well
as updates to other geographic areas
these actions allowed states to
construct
some of the small area geography they
need for legislative redistricting
participation in phase two of their
redistricting data program
was conducted through the nonpartisan
liaison designated by each state
phase two was conducted and three cycles
the first
two cycles were an initial
identification of the voting districts
and a verification stage to ensure the
suggested updates were accurately
applied
the third cycle was an additional round
of verification
for those states participating in one or
both
of the first two cycles to further
review
and adjust the voting district this
course pertains to phase three
delivery of the 2020 census pl
94-171 redistricting data files
and geographic products the geographic
support products
were delivered to the states and
published on the census website
in january february of 2021
for phase 3 data delivery regardless of
a state's participation
in phase 1 or phase 2 the director of
the census bureau
will furnish the governor and state
majority
and minority legislative leaders
redistricting commissions
when applicable and the non-partisan
state liaisons with 20 20 census
population counts
for the geographic areas needed to
perform
legislative redistricting in addition
for those states participating in phase
2
standard census tabulation will be
provided for
both districts in 2019
the census bureau produced a prototype
data product
from the 2018 end-to-end census test
to illustrate and solicit feedback on
what the 2020 census
pl 94171 redistricting data file will
look like
and how it addresses the needs of the
states
for their legislative redistricting
requirements
this prototype is what we will be
demonstrating with today
and will allow you to practice and get
your databases set up
in advance phase four
is to collect the 118th congressional
districts
and the new state legislative districts
from the states
and phase 5 evaluates and makes
recommendations
for the 2030 census redistricting
data program here's what you've learned
so far first the redistricting data
program collects
information from the states in order to
define and update
geographic boundaries for redistricting
purposes
participating states have the
opportunity to review the changes made
the census is then conducted
the census bureau delivers the
apportionment counts to the president
which are used to portion the 435
congressional district seats in the
house of representatives
next the census bureau provides the pl
94171
redistricting data tabulations to the
states
after which the census bureau collects
the state redistricting plans
and begins to evaluate and plan for the
future
you can also anticipate other avenues to
view and access redistricting data
and more detailed demographic and
housing statistics
will be available after the
redistricting data is released