Redistricting Services

CensusChannel’ specializes in the mapping, plan development and analysis of redistricting. Its staff has developed nearly one thousand redistricting plans covering jurisdictions as small as towns to as large as states. CensusChannel fully understands the various aspects of redistricting. Our staff has provided plan development support during the 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 rounds of redistricting. The company has provided support for all phases of redistricting plan development, from data acquisition and processing to plan input and modification to final plan discussion and dissemination.

CensusChannel’s focus has been to ensure redistricting plans meet traditional redistricting principles that adhere to the U.S. Constitution, state code and law, local guidelines, and the Voting Rights Act. Finally, our staff has developed expert reports, provided depositions, and testified in federal and state court as an expert on plan development and demographic aspects of redistricting. General services include:

• Redistricting Training (for organizations, commissions, legislators, and the public)
• Redistricting Plan Development (using federal, state, and local redistricting laws, codes, and criteria)
• Redistricting Plan Analysis (single and multiple plans)
• Districting Master Services
• Expert Reports, Depositions & Testimony

Major Redistricting Clientele and Projects:

• Advancement Project, Washington, DC
• African American Redistricting Collaborative (AARC) of California, Los Angeles, CA
• Alabama Democratic Conference, Montgomery, AL
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York, NY
• Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC
• City of Baltimore, MD (Office of Council President)
• City of Everett, WA
• City of Los Angeles, CA (3 City Council Members)
• Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Washington, DC
• Community Policy Research & Training Institute (One Voice), Jackson, MS
• Crowd Academy by SCSJ, Durham, NC
• Duke University’s REGSS and Southern Coalition of Social Justice, Durham, NC
• Harvard Election Law Clinic, Cambridge MA
• Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, Baton Rouge, LA
• Mississippi NAACP, Jackson, MS
• NAACP, Baltimore, MD
• NAACP LDF, New York, NY
• North Carolina NAACP, Durham, NC
• Power Coalition, New Orleans, LA
• Norfolk State University, Redistricting Project, Norfolk, VA
• North Carolina NAACP, Durham, NC
• Southern Coalition of Social Justice, Durham, NC
• Southern Echo, Jackson, MS
• The Media Group, New Orleans, LA
• Texas NAACP, Duncanville, TX
• Town of Cheverly, MD
• Virginia NAACP, Richmond, VA
• U.S. Department of Justice

Major Litigation & Testimony Related Efforts:

• Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA (2022 – 2023)
  Provided “Core Retention” analysis tables presenting the demographic change in the population of Duval County, FL school board districts from the previously approved plan to the recently enacted plan. Also, developed an expert report that contained a series of thematic and demographic map and table analyses for the Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP et al. v. City of Jacksonville et al redistricting court case. The map and table analysis related to Jacksonville, FL’s city council enjoined and proposed redistricting plans. The analysis and report included various aspects that define plan differences, such as: core retention by race/ethnicity; compactness measurements; population deviation; district configurations using silhouettes; splits of neighborhoods; and population density.
• ACLU of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (2022 – Present)
  Developed an illustrative redistricting plan and associated expert report for the Inland Empire United et al v. Riverside County et al redistricting court case. The Illustrative plan included two majority Latino districts as opposed to the county’s plan of one.
• U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C. (2022 – Present)
  Developed an illustrative redistricting plan and associated expert report for the Petteway et al v Galveston County redistricting court case. The Illustrative plan included the “Least Change” approach to bring the plan within acceptable deviation. The plan continued to contain a majority Black and Latino district as opposed to the state’s plan. The plan, report, and deposition provided evidence of the first prong in Gingles.
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Durham, NC (2022 – present)
  Provided expert report and deposition for the consolidated LULAC v. Abbott US District Court Case. Report (and deposition) included a review the Texas state’s expert’s report and respond to any conclusions regarding minority vote dilution contained in the enacted Texas congressional and legislative plans. Specific reposonse was in relation to the Fair Maps Demonstrative plans. Also reviewed compactness measurements for the Fair Maps Demonstrative plans and provide opinions.
• NAACP, New York, New York, NY (2022 – present)
  Developed an illustrative redistricting plan and associated expert report for the Robinson v. Ardoin U.S. District court case. The Illustrative plan included a second additional majority Black district as opposed to the State’s plan. The plan, report, and testimony provided evidence of the first prong in Gingles in proving the dilution of Black voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The effort included plan development, expert report, rebuttal report, and testimony.
• ACLU, New York, New York, NY (2021 – present)
  Developed an illustrative redistricting plan and associated expert report for the Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment preliminary injunction case. The Illustrative plan included five additional majority Black districts as opposed to the Board of Apportionment plan. The plan, report, and testimony provided evidence of the first prong in Gingles in proving the dilution of Black voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the VRA. The effort included plan development, expert report, rebuttal report, and testimony.
• Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC (2018 – 2020)
  Developed an illustrative redistricting plan (in addition to several alternatives) for the Holloway v City of Virginia Beach court case. The Illustrative Plan and alternatives included two majority Hispanic, Black, and Asian combined districts for the purpose of providing evidence of the first prong in Gingles for the city of Virginia Beach. The effort included expert reports, depositions, and witness testimony.
• Virginia NAACP, Richmond, VA (2018)
  Developed a statewide remedial plan for Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections. The Plan corrected 11 unconstitutional racial gerrymandered state house districts in the Richmond, Peninsula, and Southside Hampton Roads areas.
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Durham, NC (2018)
  Developed a demonstrative remedial redistricting plan and associated expert report as well as provided a deposition for the North Carolina State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Lewis Wake County Superior Court case. The demonstrative remedial plan corrected the two Wake County, NC House Districts declared by a federal court to be racially gerrymandered districts (HD33 & HD38). The expert report provided a narrative that not only discussed my results but also provided insight for the Court on how a map drawer would reasonably go about fixing racially gerrymandered districts and still comply with the state constitution’s prohibition on mid-decade redistricting.
• Texas NAACP, San Antonio, TX, (2017)
  Provided expert testimony, deposition, and expert report for the Perez v. Abbott US Federal District Court Case. The analysis focused on certain characteristics, including population deviation, compactness, political subdivision splits, and communities of interest for congressional and house plans. Additional analysis was performed on demographic projections for certain congressional and statehouse districts.
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Durham, NC (2015 – 2016)
  Provided expert testimony, deposition, and expert report for the City of Greensboro v The Guilford County Board of Elections US District Court Case. Deposition and report included several district plans for the city council of Greensboro, NC, and analyzed certain characteristics, including population deviation, political subdivision splits, partisan performance, and incumbent effect analysis.
Provided expert testimony and report for the Covington v North Carolina federal redistricting court case. The testimony included analysis from Dickson v Rucho (also NAACP v North Carolina) of compactness on state legislative house and senate districts.
Provided expert testimony and report for the Wright v North Carolina federal redistricting court case. The testimony and report included analysis of population deviation, compactness, partisan impact, and incumbent residences for county commission and school board plans.
• Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC), Montgomery, AL (2015 – 2016)
  Developed senate and house redistricting plans for the state of Alabama for the ADC v Alabama court case. Provided deposition on the creation of the plan. Also, generated a series of thematic maps depicting areas added from the previous plan to the enacted plan, displaying concentrations of African American voters that were added to the enacted plan.
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Durham, NC (2014)
  Provided expert testimony, report, and deposition for Federal redistricting court case, Perez v. Perry of Texas. The report included an analysis of population extrapolations and projections for several submitted plans for select congressional and house districts.
• North Carolina NAACP, Raleigh, NC (2012)
  Provided expert opinions and analysis in an affidavit for the NC NAACP v. State of North Carolina federal redistricting case (later Dickson v Rucho). The affidavit included an examination of compactness measurements pertaining to the Congressional, State Senate, and State House “Benchmark” plans, several approved plans, and several legislative submitted plans. The report also contained county splits for the target districts.
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Durham, NC (2011)
  Provided expert opinions and analysis in an affidavit for the Moore v. State of Tennessee redistricting case. The affidavit included analysis of county splits comparing State Senate “Benchmark” plans, the approved plan, and several legislative submitted plans.
• Texas NAACP, San Antonio, TX (2011)
  Provided expert testimony, report, and deposition for federal redistricting court case Perez v. Perry. Testimony covered the evaluation of traditional redistricting criteria of the Congressional and House approved plans compared to several proposed or legislature submitted plans.
• Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, Baton Rouge, LA (2011)
  Provided expert testimony in front of the Senate and Governmental Affairs committee. Testimony included the analysis of two redistricting plans comparing ideal population deviation, political subdivision splits (Parishes); and compactness ratios. Also, developed a redistricting plan and testified in front of the House and Governmental Affairs in support of a new majority-minority (African American) congressional district in Louisiana.
• Morrison & Foerster LLP, Los Angeles, CA (2004)
  Provided expert report on several state senate plans for the Metts v. Murphy Rhode Island court case. The report contained an analysis of communities of interest areas that were not included in the state’s enacted plan of the only majority-minority district.
• Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Redistricting Project, Washington D.C. (2002)
  Performed as the redistricting mapping expert for Congressman Hilliard in a consolidated U.S. District redistricting court case in Alabama (Montiel v. Davis and Barnett v. Alabama). Developed the submitted plan and provided advice to legal counsel for the court case.
• Council of Black Elected Democrats (COBED) New York State, New York, NY (2002)
  Performed as one of the redistricting experts (Allen v Pataki/Rodriguez v Pataki) by developing several New York State congressional district plans that were presented by COBED.
• Miami-Dade, Florida (1993)
  Provided expert technical redistricting support as one half of the Expert Master’s Team for the remedial plan (Meek v. Metropolitan Dade County). Developed over 50 commissioner district plans for the county as well as the final adopted plan for the county.
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDEF), New York, NY (1993)
  Provided expert technical support for the Shaw v. Reno Supreme Court case (via Norfolk State University). Analyzed and compared various compactness ratios for congressional districts throughout the U.S. The results were compared to the 12th congressional district of North Carolina. Also, developed several alternative congressional district plans.

Redistricting Training and Presentations:

• Southern Echo, Jackson, Mississippi (2021)
  Provided detailed training/presentation (12 sessions) on various aspects of redistricting. Topics included: Relevant redistricting court cases, traditional redistricting criteria, and redistricting data.
• Crowd Academy (2020 – 2021)
  Provided instructional training to community persons through Crowd Academy, sponsored by the SCSJ. Persons were trained from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Training centered on “How the Lines are Drawn” which included a variety of redistricting-related topics: Background and Initial Considerations, Traditional Redistricting Criteria, Recent Redistricting Concepts, and Redistricting Data & Software
• Crescent City Media Group, New Orleans, LA (2021)
  Provided redistricting training to the PreRedistricting Lab. Training centered on various educational presentations and hands-on sessions for community leaders and local/state legislators.
• Delta Days in the Nation’s Capital, Washington, DC (2020)
  Provided panel presentation on suggested efforts in preparation for the next round of redistricting. Plenary presentation to several hundred Delta Sigma Theta (DST) sorority sisters throughout the country.
• William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (2019)
  Presented lecture to the GIS and Districting course students centering on improving as well as potential adverse trade-offs from improvements of the adopted redistricting plan chosen by the special masters of the Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections redistricting case.
• Southern Echo, Jackson, Mississippi (2019)
  Provided detailed training/presentation (3 hours) on various aspects of redistricting. Topics included: Relevant redistricting court cases, traditional redistricting criteria, and redistricting data.
• William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (2018)
  Presented lecture to the GIS and Districting course students centering on aspects of the Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections redistricting case. The discussion pertained to how to develop a plan that corrected the 11 unconstitutional racial gerrymandered states house districts.
• Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Washington, DC (2016)
  Presented at the annual legislative conference in Tunica, MS. Presented the election demographic analysis and for the 2016 presidential and Senate elections. The panel included Congressman Cedrick Richmond (LA), Congressman Sanford Bishop (GA), and Professor Spencer Overton.
• Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), Chicago, IL (2015)
  Presented at the annual CBTU conference on the election panel that included Congressman Al Green (TX) and Congressman Bobby Rush (IL).
• Nobel Women’s Initiative, Washington, DC (2015)
  Presented on a panel at the annual conference in San Diego, CA on the upcoming 2020 census.
• Tennessee NAACP, Nashville, TN (2011)
  Provided redistricting training sessions on the mapping and demographic aspects of Redistricting.
• Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Washington, DC (2002 – 2012, 2014)
  Presented “The Demographics of Campaigns” twelve times at the institute’s annual political campaign “Boot Camp.” The presentation covers how to locate and utilize demographic data for political campaigns.
• Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), Washington, DC (2011)
  Presented as one of the panelists at the” Judge A. Leon Higginbotham” Braintrust at the CBC Annual Legislative Conference. The panel was moderated by Congressman Mel Watt.
• The Advancement Project, Washington, DC (2011)
  Trained staff GIS person on Maptitude for Redistricting as well as on redistricting scenarios.
• NAACP, Baltimore, MA (2011)
  Provided training session on “Redistricting Mapping Overview“ at the organization’s national redistricting training seminar for state and local chapters.
• Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Washington, DC (2010)
  Presented at the annual CBC Institute conference in Tunica, MS (The panel included Congressman John Lewis and Congressman Jim Clyburn). Outlined two critical issues that would surface in the 2010 round of redistricting: 1) Prison-based Gerrymander; and 2) The use of Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP).
• Community Census and Redistricting Institute (CCRI), Durham, NC (2010)
  Developed, managed, and provided hands-on training for the Political Cartographer’s side of a week-long intensive “redistricting expert” preparation workshop. The workshop trained 18 political cartographers on all aspects of plan development.
• North Carolina University’s Center for Civil Rights, Chapel Hill, NC (2010)
  Provided presentation on “Redistricting Laws & GIS” at the Unfinished Work conference. The presentation outlined the evolution of major redistricting laws and GIS and their impact on minority representation.
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund AIRLIE Conference, AIRLIE, VA (2010)
  Provided training using hands-on “paper” redistricting scenario to voting rights advocates on developing a plan without the use of computers.
• Young Elected Officials, Los Angeles, CA (2010)
  Provided training using hands-on “paper” redistricting scenario to young legislators on developing a plan without the use of computers.
• Young Elected Officials, Alexandria, VA (2010)
  Provided overview training on the major aspects of redistricting to young legislators.
• North Carolina University’s Center for Civil Rights, Chapel Hill, NC (2006)
  Provided presentation on “Congressional Elections Won by African Americans Race & Ethnicity District Perspective (1960 – 2004)” at the Who Draws the Lines? The Consequences of Redistricting Reform for Minority Voters conference.
• Howard University – Continuing Education – HBCU GIS Workshop, Washington, DC (2002)
  Provided presentation on redistricting and the use Maptitude for Redistricting to faculty members of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).