Census Delay

With the delay of the Census data to all states, the redistricting process will be delayed for all levels of government. However, in many states such as Tennessee, the delay will only shorten the time for redistricting putting transparency and voter participation at risk. We have invited speakers to our convention to address some of these issues - see below.

Redistricting 101 Slide Show

Our slide show is almost completed. We will be rolling it out next week. We have a Speakers’ Bureau chaired by Kalen Russell, kalennrussell [at] gmail.com. Please contact Kalen (or me) if you need a speaker for your civic, environmental, faith based, immigrant, health, environmental, etc organizations. Remember that everyone is affected by the the decisions made during this redistricting process; and these decisions will affect voters and policies for ten years.

Speakers Bureau

We are requesting speakers for our slide show. The shows will be by zoom and the League will provide the slides and training. Please contact Kalen Russell if you are interested.

Legislation - Update

As you know, there are several pieces of legislation that is being proposed dealing with Redistricting. Two, in particular, address the issues of Fair Maps (SB0003/HB0971)and Independent Redistricting Commissions (SB0957/HB1557) that are of interest to the League. Both Senate bills have been sent to Sen. Judiciary Committee waiting to be put on calendar. The House version have been assigned to the House Public Service subcommittee - also waiting to be put on calendar. We will issue Action Alerts as these bills move through the legislature.

LWVTN Convention

The LWVTN Convention will be held on April 23 and April 24. It will be a virtual convention so you can enjoy it from home. We will have two presentations on Redistricting: Doug Himes, Ethics Counsel, House of Representatives; and Matthew Hill, Senior Specialist (GIS), Division of Property Assessment, Office of the TN Comptroller of the Treasury. Remember: Local redistricting affects all county commissions and districts; all voting precincts; all TN voters; and 99 TN House Districts, 33 Senate Districts, and 9 Congressional Districts. It is a BIG Deal! More information will be coming!!!

Web Sites and Voter articles

We are populating the LWVTN website with events and information. Please let me know the contact for your webmaster for your League and I will send them information. They can choose what they want to use. Ditto for your Voter. If you need articles on redistricting please let me know the deadline. Contact: maryannreeves1 [at] att.net.

Day of Action (DOA)

The LWVUS has designated April 19 as a Day of Action. For our participation we will have Ms. Kristin Eberhard, author of "Becoming a Democracy" for an evening zoom meeting. She is awesome. We will be sending out more information later. We are inviting our partners and coalition members; and hopefully, you will distribute the invite widely.

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Submitted by Mary Ann Reeves