SPLC Backs Redistricting Data Hub to Provide Nonpartisan Voting Rights Data for the South

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced a new effort to provide local redistricting data through the Redistricting Data Hub (RDH), a nonpartisan centralized hub that will be accessible to anyone engaged in the redistricting process.

As part of the effort, RDH will collect, process and host specific redistricting data for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi – states with pending lawsuits challenging state laws that threaten the ability of voters to cast ballots and elect candidates of choice. The data will be used to support ongoing litigation, mid-decade redraws, and local malapportionment or voting rights challenges.

Hundreds of community groups, activists, nonprofit organizations, civil rights litigators, expert witnesses, academics, journalists and special masters use RDH data to assemble critical redistricting data sets. Through the financial support of the SPLC, RDH will continue to provide this important resource. 

“Redistricting has become a perennial decade-long undertaking as states continue to alter district boundaries based on electoral outcomes, particularly after the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision crippled Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This has serious implications for Black voter suppression, particularly in the Deep South,” said Bradley Heard, deputy legal director for democracy and voting rights at the SPLC. “This funding will allow RDH to continue its crucial data collection efforts now and in the next redistricting cycle, so that the SPLC and other civil rights groups will be able to effectively challenge these efforts when necessary.”

“Identifying gerrymandering and proposing legal alternatives ultimately requires access to critical data,” said Kate Donovan, RDH Director. “We are honored to support SPLC’s work to ensure fair districts at all levels of government, by providing this data in a nonpartisan and publicly accessible way.”

The data can be accessed here. Community organizations are encouraged to contact the SPLC or RDH to learn how to engage in the redistricting process, especially when they hear of possible changes to their state and local election district boundaries that could impact a fair election process.