commission work for the 2020 redistricting cycle 

California citizens redistricting commission (CA CRC)

Blockwell Consulting, LLC was hired by Strumwasser & Woocher LLP to conduct all of the statistical analyses required for the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Blockwell Consulting also prepared a report of findings for the over 700 electoral contests analyzed, and prepared and presented trainings for the CRC. It was an honor to serve the residents of California. You can view the final enacted maps here.

“Every 10 years, after the federal government publishes updated census information, California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly and State Board of Equalization districts, so that the districts correctly reflect the state’s population.

California voters authorized the creation of the Commission when they passed the VOTERS FIRST Act (Act) in 2008. It authorized the Commission to draw the new district lines. In 2010, the Congressional Voters FIRST Act added the responsibility of drawing Congressional districts to the Commission.

The 14-member Commission is made up of five Republicans, five Democrats, and 4 not affiliated with either of those two parties. The Commission must draw the district lines in conformity with strict, nonpartisan rules designed to create districts of relatively equal population that will provide fair representation for all Californians.” - We Draw the Lines website

The CRC’s primary goal was to draw the district lines for the Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization. To do this, they held public meetings, reviewed research and analyses by voting rights experts such as those provided by Blockwell Consulting, hire support staff, and prepare legal defenses should the state be sued for the final maps. The CRC help private and public meetings between July 2020 and September 2023, and all public meetings were recorded and transcribed. You can find those meeting videos, documents, and transcripts here. The residents of California submitted over 10,000 comments for the CRC to consider. Many news articles were written about the CRC and those are compiled here.

You can read more about the 2020 CA CRC in the final report about lessons learned from the CRC and in Dr. Christian Grose’s ‘Fair Maps in the State of California: The 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s Successes and Challenges’.

Montana prisoner reallocation data preparation for the districting and apportionment commission

Blockwell Consulting, LLC was hired by the State of Montana to prepare the data necessary for the Districting and Apportionment Commission for the 2020 redistricting cycle. The US Census Bureau tabulates people in state and federal correctional facilities in the Census block in which they are confined rather than their last home address. Many states passed laws to reallocate people incarcerated back to their last home address for the purposes of redistricting. The idea behind this practice is that counting people at the correctional facility alters the fair representation due in both the areas with the correctional facilities and the from which the people lived prior to incarceration. You can read more about this process on the National Conference of State Legislatures website.

Blockwell Consulting was honored to serve the residents of Montana in preparing the data required for redistricting.

nassau county, new york temporary districting advisory commission (TDAC)

The Nassau County Temporary Districting Advisory Commission (TDAC) was established in April 2022, as per the County Charter, to create 19 county legislative districts. The TDAC was comprised of 11 bipartisan members which held 12 public meetings throughout Nassau County to solicit feedback from communities across the county. In the end, the Legislature adopted maps viewable here. You can read Dr. Gall’s public testimony here.