A Redistricting Fight Nobody Is Watching
Municipal and county lines get redrawn with almost no scrutiny, and they decide who runs the services people actually touch.
Congressional maps get litigation, national coverage, and well funded advocacy on both sides. County commission maps get a public notice in a legal advertisement section and a hearing attended by nine people.
The gap is strange, because the local map governs decisions residents encounter directly: which schools get built, where a road project goes, how a sheriff's budget is set, whether a zoning variance clears. A commission drawn to produce a stable majority will produce one for a decade.
The mechanics are also easier to bend at the local level. Fewer seats means each boundary decision carries more weight, and the data required to draw a map to a desired outcome is now cheap and publicly available.
What is missing is not law. Most states impose the same basic requirements at every level. What is missing is anyone watching, which is a resource problem that no statute can fix.
Owen Blackwood writes for The 13th Bell on politics. This piece was edited and fact checked before publication.
Get The 13th Bell in your inbox
