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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Nebraskans to See Narrow Window for Public Input on New Voting Districts

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Thursday, August 19, 2021   

LINCOLN, Neb. -- As Nebraska lawmakers sort through new 2020 Census numbers to update voting districts, watchdog groups are encouraging all residents to pay attention and offer feedback.

Rachel Gibson, director of education policy for the League of Women Voters of Nebraska, said her group will be on the lookout for any signs of gerrymandering, a tactic used by majority parties to carve out districts in order to tilt election outcomes in their favor.

"We don't want one senator to represent five people, and another to represent 500, but it's also about where those lines are drawn," Gibson contended. "We're looking for communities to be represented and grouped in ways that's meaningful, so that they can elect someone who represents their needs."

New maps are expected to impact the upcoming 2022 elections for Nebraska's second Congressional seat, and 24 state legislative races. At the local level, through school board elections, maps also can impact how public schools operate.

The population target for each district is 40,000 people, but lawmakers can consider a deviation of up to 10% above or below that number.

Gibson pointed out even small shifts could have profound impacts on some elections.

"With that 10% leeway, though, that's 4,000 people," Gibson observed. "In the past ten years, we've had seven state elections where the difference was under 500 votes."

The window before new maps become written into law for the next decade is narrow. A special legislative session is set to begin Sep. 13, where senators will review draft maps, and a final vote is expected by the end of September.

Legislative rules mandate at least one public hearing on maps in each of the state's three Congressional districts.

"We are part of our government, and we get a say," Gibson asserted. "And the process of redistricting is a way for politicians and people in power to manipulate that say. What we want to do is make sure that we are having the rules drawn so that the system isn't rigged."


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