La Comisión de Redistribución Legislativa de Pensilvania ha votado sus propuestas de mapas de distritos electorales de la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado del estado. Los grupos de defensa del buen gobierno dicen que los mapas son un paso en la dirección correcta para mantener unidas a las comunidades de interés. Los mayores cambios se ven en el mapa de la Cámara, lo que refleja grandes movimientos de población en la Commonwealth durante la última década. Como resultado, varios titulares, de mayoría republicana, se han visto arrastrados al mismo distrito. Carol Kuniholm de Fair Districts PA dice que, aunque puede ser frustrante para los titulares, el resultado son distritos más compactos, con menos divisiones de condados.

"En lugar de intentar dibujar los distritos para mantener la mayor cantidad posible de titulares en su lugar, especialmente con el mapa de la Cámara, se hizo para reflejar mejor a las comunidades y recordar a todos que estos distritos pertenecen a la población de Pensilvania, no a las personas elegidas para servir", comentó Kuniholm.

Según el Princeton Gerrymandering Project, hay una división partidista equitativa en los mapas de la Cámara y el Senado, y un ligero aumento para los demócratas en comparación con el mapa actual.

La comisión está compuesta por cuatro líderes de la Cámara y el Senado, con un presidente no partidista: Mark Nordenberg, exdecano de la Universidad de Pittsburgh. Salewa Ogunmefun, del grupo Pennsylvania Voice, dice que está feliz de ver la creación de siete nuevos distritos que maximizarían el voto de las comunidades de color.

"El presidente Nordenberg y los miembros de la Comisión de Redistribución Legislativa estaban realmente comprometidos en asegurar que las poblaciones en crecimiento del estado, las cuales están totalmente impulsadas por la población negra, latina y asiático-americana, tengan más oportunidades de elegir sus candidatos de este proceso", aseguró también Ogunmefun.

La población asiática de Pensilvania creció un 46% entre 2010 y 2020, según los datos del censo de EE. UU., y la población hispana y latina creció un 45%. Los residentes de Pensilvania tendrán 30 días a partir de la votación de la semana pasada para comentar sobre las propuestas.

A new report found the 2020 census significantly undercounted the Latino population nationwide, by almost 5%, more than three times the undercount from the 2010 census.

By establishing population data, the census guides where federal dollars are spent.

Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the undercount could mean less money for dozens of programs benefiting children and young adults in Nevada, including Medicaid and food assistance.

"The federal funding implicates things like education, child care services, transportation, parks and health care," Saenz outlined. "There isn't really a federal program or even state and local decision-making that is not going to be affected by an undercount in the census."

An analysis from the Urban Institute last winter projected an undercount of more than 20,000 people of all races statewide, including a slight overcount of white residents and a net undercount of 2.19% for Hispanics living in Nevada.

Before the census, advocates warned of a significant undercount in the Latino population after the Trump administration tried to add a question about citizenship to the census.

Saenz believes the move was designed to trigger lower response rates, specifically from the Latino community.

"And even though many of those efforts were stopped in court, the public attention to them clearly had an impact," Saenz observed. "That means that the Latino community will suffer as a result of that undercount over the course of the next decade."

The pandemic made it much harder to obtain an accurate count, because so many people had to move after losing their jobs. Children, particularly those from low-income families who tend to be renters, have traditionally been the hardest for census-takers to count.

Wisconsin is pushing ahead with a Republican-drawn legislative redistricting plan, after a ruling Friday by the state Supreme Court held the GOP maps were the most race-neutral option.

The state high court previously chose Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' legislative maps, but the decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held the state court did not provide enough justification a new Black-majority assembly district called for in Evers' plan was necessary.

Mel Barnes, staff attorney for the legal firm Law Forward, argued in a discussion hosted by the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition Monday the Republican maps violate the Voting Rights Act, opening them up to further potential litigation.

"The purpose of legislation like this, that grew out of the civil rights movement and was a triumph that people around this country organized for and pushed for, was to make sure that we weren't drawing districts in a way that diluted these votes," Barnes asserted.

Under the GOP plan, Milwaukee County will now have five Assembly districts with a majority of Black voters, down from the current six and Evers' planned seven. The U.S. Supreme Court left in place the governor's congressional redistricting plan. Evers issued a statement Friday, writing the ruling was outrageous and "an unconscionable miscarriage of justice."

Republicans would have kept their majorities in the Senate and Assembly under Evers' maps, although to a lesser degree than in the new GOP-drawn maps, which put them a few assembly seats shy of a veto-proof legislative majority.

Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project, pointed out Evers' maps were already based on lines drawn by Republicans in 2011, as a previous state Supreme Court ruling held new voting maps should be based as much as possible on the current ones.

"So that meant that every option was going to be a gerrymandered map," Chheda contended. "It was just how gerrymandered was it going to be?"

Voting-rights advocates argue Wisconsin's 2011 maps were among the most gerrymandered in the nation. The plan was also challenged to the U.S. Supreme Court, which tossed out the case in 2019 in 2019, arguing it did not have the authority to consider partisan gerrymandering claims. Barring future legal challenges, the new maps will be in place until 2031.

From historic floods to the 2020 derecho, Iowans are familiar with natural disasters. With the spring storm season underway, local governments are reminded of a tool to determine if their residents will have a harder time recovering from these events.

The U.S. Census Bureau said its new Community Resilience Estimates tool compiles certain characteristics of a neighborhood, such as socio-economic factors and transportation options.

Bethany DeSalvo, statistician and demographer at the Bureau, said they then use the data to predict how vulnerable a household is in the face of a flood or tornado.

"What we mean by vulnerable is not having the ability to cope with the external stressors of the disaster," DeSalvo explained.

It could include overcoming language barriers in seeking disaster assistance. DeSalvo pointed out the tool can help local planners come up with more resources in a vulnerable area, including evacuation spaces.

According to the bureau, roughly 20% of residents across Iowa have three or more risk factors. Another 40% have one or two.

DeSalvo noted a key goal behind the initiative is to establish more equity in disaster recovery, but she added it can also help reduce government costs in rebuilding after a storm.

"With the effects of climate change, you may see more and more expensive disasters," DeSalvo emphasized. "Planning ahead of time and mitigating the things that can be mitigated is a really good goal."

In addition to local governments, DeSalvo stressed it can be a vital tool for FEMA, as it can help the agency determine the number and type of personnel to deploy, along with disaster assistance programs activated for specific areas.

With the 2020 census continuing historical trends in terms of undercounts for racial groups, officials say the approach might address some subsequent service gaps in not counting everybody.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.