Redistricting and 2008 legislative races

While most of the country is focused on this year's race for the White House, the battle for the majority in Congress can be heavily affected by the next round of redistricting. For that reason, state legislative majorities to be determined this year will impact congressional district lines for the next decade.

In 36 states, Legislatures play a major role in redistricting and will draw new boundaries at both congressional and state legislative levels after the 2012 reapportionment of House seats. Reapportionment and redistricting in Arkansas is different from most other states. In Arkansas, Article 8 of the state Constitution creates the Board of Apportionment, prescribes its duties, and establishes the number and terms of legislators. Article 8 requires redistricting of the General Assembly every 10 years after the federal census. The Board is made up of the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, and Article 8 has been amended/affected by Amendment 23 and Amendment 45.

States where legislative races are being closely watched for redistricting purposes include Michigan, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and Georgia. The main issues pertinent to reapportionment include partisan and race-based redistricting and equal population (one-person, one-vote with a 10% variance). Here's a good read on these races from Politics magazine (formerly Campaign & Elections magazine).

When Arkansas begins the process of redistricting, you can bet that at the state legislative level, districts in southern and eastern Arkansas are going to grow in size, while northwest Arkansas districts will shrink considerably, since that is where a lot of the population growth has been in the last decade. I'm also interested to see what happens to the 3rd Congressional District and whether it cedes more counties to other districts.