Daily Resource Highlight - 4/12/2021

Posted by on April 05, 2021 at 3:38 PM

Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.

4/06/2021 - Join Us In Two Weeks. Let’s Honor Some Amazing Collaborators

Back in January we told you about the American Civic Collaboration Awards -- a.k.a. “The Civvys.” Each year, the Civvys are awarded to three collaborative efforts “that put community and nation before party, ideology and narrow interests.” It’s a way of (1) saying thank you to people and organizations that make our country a better place, and (2) telling their stories to a wider audience.

This year, the Civvys are taking place on Monday, April 19th at 7 PM ET, and we’re hoping to see you there!

And I do mean WE. The Civvys are a collaboration of the Bridge Alliance and the National Conference on Citizenship, and it gives me great pleasure to invite you -- on behalf of our two communities -- to the Awards Ceremony. Attendance is free, and you’ll get to hear from people who are forging a new path forward for our country; a path built on foundations of trust and cooperation instead of fear and anger.

So again, we hope to see you there. It is going to be a fun night, but it won’t be the same without you.

 

4/09/2021 - Do Your Representatives Choose You? State-by-State Gerrymandering

In a few months, the U.S. Census Bureau will release the data that states need for redistricting. Once received, each state will use its own process to determine the shapes of its various congressional and state legislative districts for the next ten years.

In some states, like Michigan and Arizona, the proceedings will be more-or-less transparent and the end result will reflect some sort of consensus. In most states, though, either Democrats or Republicans have complete control over the state government and can exercise that control to gerrymander districts that will re-elect their incumbents and maximize their party’s advantage in the House of Representatives. In other words, legislators in those states will choose their constituents, and not the other way around.

RepresentUs has quantified the relative risk of that happening in each state with its color-coded Gerrymandering Threat Index. Each state is rated on a scale from “minimal threat” to “extreme threat” using five criteria, including (1) political control, (2) secrecy, (3) partisan rigging, (4) strength of legal standard, and (5) ability to challenge in courts. You can read the full report here.

According to the Fulcrum, approximately 70% of Americans live in a state where there is a high chance of a partisan gerrymander.

 

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