[EM] Redistricting Challenges Heating Up (FWD)

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Redistricting Challenges Heating Up

ROBERT TANNER

AP National Writer

In California, Texas and Massachusetts, maps were challenged - The 
once-a-decade fight over the nation's political lines - redistricting - is 
moving from the capitols to the courts with arguments about race and 
gerrymandering coming up in state after state as both parties seek an elusive 
edge for future elections.

All but five states have finished the task of redrawing political districts 
for Congress and their legislatures, and more than a dozen of those maps have 
been challenged.

So far, analysts see little in the way of sweeping change as both parties 
wrestle for control of the U.S. House. Most states produced status quo maps, 
with at most a slight overall increase in Republican-leaning House districts.

The narrow margin in the House, with the GOP holding an 11-seat edge, adds 
intensity to the fight for each seat, and now the battle for both 
congressional and legislative seats has turned to litigation over the newly 
drawn lines. Issues vary in each state, but minority rights and divided 
communities are common sticking points.

so far, unsuccessfully - by Hispanics who say the states' political leaders 
drew incumbent-protecting maps that shortchange the Latino population.

In Virginia, where a new GOP-authored map was used for state legislative 
elections in 2001, a state judge ruled it was racially gerrymandered and 
ordered new elections for the entire state House. The ruling is on appeal.

Court decisions can have a major impact on elections.

In Pennsylvania, three federal judges ruled the state's congressional map was 
defective because districts weren't equal in population. Nonetheless, the 
panel last month said the Republican-drawn map could stand for the 2002 
elections, though it promised a review that could bring changes in 2004.

North Carolina's primaries, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, were 
delayed indefinitely because Republicans claimed counties were illegally 
split in ways that unfairly divided towns and cities.

There are also legal battles in Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Maryland and 
elsewhere.

Which, if any, of these legal challenges might change redistricting law 
remains to be seen. But if the last decade is any guide, courts can 
dramatically rewrite the legal foundation for political maps.

"The cases that survive beyond (the next few months) will be these more 
important constitutional issues," said Michael McDonald, a political science 
professor at the University of Illinois, Springfield, who helps states with 
the redistricting process.

Redistricting is required every 10 years after the census to account for 
population changes. The electoral maps must be redrawn so districts are equal 
in population.

Some analysts say the effects of the maps drawn after the 1990 census weren't 
fully seen until 1994, when Republicans took control of the U.S. House and 
Senate. Maps with more Republican-leaning voters helped drive that year's 
upset, analysts said, along with growing conservatism in the South and a 
backlash to President Clinton's first term.

This time, the new maps are even more likely than usual to protect 
incumbents, as in California, Texas and Massachusetts. Bigger partisan swings 
are expected in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The bottom line: If neither party can gain a wide edge in Congress, they at 
least don't want to lose what they've got now.

Advocates for minorities, however, say protecting incumbents leaves their 
interests slighted. In addition to Hispanic lawsuits, Indians have sued in 
South Dakota and Montana, and blacks have sued in South Carolina, Georgia and 
Mississippi.

"Race is a critical factor. You have Democrats and Republicans both using 
blacks to try to maximize their partisan advantages," said Laughlin McDonald, 
director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project in Atlanta. "The level of 
hypocrisy and disingenuousness is fairly steep."

The last round of redistricting focused on boosting minority representation. 
But court rulings during the 1990s said race should be just one factor among 
many when districts are created.

This time, Democrats have often sought to spread the influence of minorities 
between districts, arguing that it helps reduce racially polarized voting. 
Analysts point out that since minorities have a track record of favoring 
Democrats over the GOP, that strategy also gives Democrats a better chance to 
win in more places.

Democratic strategists say the Virginia state court decision and a 2001 
ruling in New Jersey upholding its legislative maps back up their strategy.

Republicans have often sought to create districts with big majorities of 
minority voters, arguing it best protects minority rights. While that makes 
it more certain a district will have a minority representative, analysts say, 
it also concentrates Democratic voters, leaving adjoining districts more 
likely to vote GOP.

When all is said and done, some analysts expect redistricting will leave the 
parties about where they started, pushing back and forth to get the narrowest 
of advantages over each other.

"If there's any lessons to be drawn from the 2000 maps," said Ben Ginsberg, 
former counsel of the Republican National Committee, "it is that it's a 
pretty evenly divided country."

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States where redistricting still faces substantial legal challenges:

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North Carolina: State Supreme Court indefinitely delayed May 7 primaries for 
state and federal seats. Court agreed with GOP claim that legislative map 
violated state constitution by splitting counties among districts.

---

Virginia: State judge threw out legislative redistricting map that served for 
the 2001 elections, ruling some districts in the Republican-drawn plan were 
racially gerrymandered. Judge ordered new state House elections. Decision on 
appeal.

---

Arizona: Legislative and congressional maps in court, where Hispanics and 
Democrats say maps violate state constitution by creating uncompetitive 
districts. Testimony showed maps partly based on incorrect data.

---

Florida: Congressional and legislative maps face federal and state court 
challenges. Democrats allege racial and political gerrymandering by 
GOP-controlled legislature.

---

Pennsylvania: Federal judges allow 2002 elections to go ahead despite 
GOP-drawn congressional map with too wide a variation in population among 
districts. Judges will review new map May 8, could order changes for 2004.

---

Michigan: Candidate-filing deadlines delayed as federal court prepares to 
hold trial on dispute over congressional map. Democrats allege a GOP 
gerrymander.

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