The Arizona Constitution requires the Commission to use six criteria when drawing the maps.
- “Districts shall comply with the United States Constitution and the United States Voting Rights Act.” This is a federal requirement that applies to every state.
To learn more about the Voting Rights Act and how it affects redistricting:
Latest Justice Department Guidance
IRC legal counsel presentation on Voting Rights Act
IRC legal counsel presentation on Arizona Constitution’s mapping clauses
IRC legal counsel presentation on Native Americans and the Voting Rights Act
- “Congressional districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable and state legislative districts shall have equal population to the extent practicable.” In practice this has come to mean that Arizona’s congressional districts must have exactly equal populations (+/- 1 person) as determined by the census. In 2021 that will be 794,611. Legislative districts must strive to be the same population but have more leeway. These new districts will have a population of approximately 238,383. An range of +/- 5% is generally accepted in order to balance other requirements. See Harris v. Ariz. Indep. Redistricting Commission.
- “Districts shall be geographically compact and contiguous to the extent practicable.” This criterion was adopted to prevent the classic gerrymandering practice of drawing wildly shaped districts to meet the needs of a political party or incumbent, rather than the needs of the citizens.
- “District boundaries shall respect Communities of Interest to the extent practicable.” This criterion recognizes that there are geographic areas such as neighborhoods of a city or regions of a state where residents have common political interests that do not necessarily coincide with the boundaries of a political subdivision such as a city or county.
To learn more about Communities of Interest go to:
- “To the extent practicable district lines shall use visible geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts.” This criterion recognizes that established political boundaries should be respected.
- “To the extent practicable, competitive districts should be favored where to do so would create no significant detriment to the other goals.” The intent here is to foster the creation of districts with relatively even partisan balance, making competition between the two major parties more intense. This criterion seeks to avoid the creation of “safe” districts.
To learn more about competitiveness go to:
AZ Mirror summary of IRC approach to competitiveness
IRC Mapping Consultant PowerPoint presentation
IRC Mapping Consultant video presentation
The Arizona Constitution forbids the use of party registration or voting history data when drawing the initial maps. This prohibition is designed to prevent the gerrymandering practice of drawing maps that create “safe districts” for a political party or candidate. Information about voting history and party registration can be used later to assess how well the maps create competitive districts.
The Constitution also forbids the Commission from identifying or considering the residence of incumbents or candidates at any time in the process. This is designed to eliminate the gerrymandering practice of protecting incumbents or eliminating competitors.
The Commission is tasked with balancing the six criteria, which can be in conflict with each other. For instance, it is challenging to create districts that are geographically compact and also of equal population in a state like Arizona with large rural areas and several densely populated cities. Inevitably there will be several geographically very large districts and several much smaller districts to achieve equal population. Ultimately the Commission is guided by the language of Proposition 106 to create “fair and competitive Congressional and Legislative Districts.”
