2021 Redistricting

A special legislative session on redistricting began Sept. 13 and ended Sept. 30.

See all the final maps here.

Press release: With redistricting done, Sen. Wayne, Chair Kleeb call for grassroots organizing.

PREVIOUSLY

See all the proposed congressional and legislative maps here.

CALL TO ACTION: Sign our petition to fight GOP gerrymandering.

-Note on the maps: The Legislature’s map page links to all proposals entered into the record, so it can be confusion which map is the current one on the table. View the Congressional map that passed first round of voting on 9/24.

–Legislative District Map: You can enter in your home address to see the new LD you are now in (assuming these maps get final vote week of 9/27). View the google map.

Recent Updates, 9/29:

Omaha World-Herald: Redistricting plan would keep ‘blue dot,’ split La Vista and most of Papillion from Omaha

Lincoln Journal Star: Redistricting sharply reshuffles Lincoln legislative districts

Understanding the redistricting process:

Redistricting happens every 10 years after the census and is meant to even out the populations of Nebraska’s three congressional districts, 49 legislative districts, six Supreme Court districts, eight University of Nebraska Board of Regents districts, State Board of Education districts and five Public Service Commission districts.

You can view the legislative schedule here.
You can watch the floor and hearing proceedings on Nebraska Public Media.
Read about the Redistricting Committee process and schedule.
Read about the history of redistricting and census information.
View all the proposed maps here.

Take action:

Use our tool to submit a letter to your state senator.
Download a flyer from the NDP with talking points, sample testimony and links to help you prepare your public hearing testimony.
Download a flyer about the 2nd Congressional District from NDRC’s All on the Line. Great info!
Watch the NDP and NDRC training on redistricting with Sen. Blood and Chair Kleeb.
Keep contacting your Senator and the Redistricting Committee members expressing your concerns and desire for fair maps. It is not too late to give your feedback. Official testimony for the formal record was due 9/16 but your comments still impact your elected officials. You can send your senator an email with our tool. You can also call Senators.

Tips for writing your letter and preparing your testimony:

Use our tool to submit a letter.

If you only have time to write one sentence to your State Senator, we suggest something like this, “I support Sen. Wayne’s maps—his maps are fair and bring everyone to the table. Sen. Linehan’s maps seem to be a power grab cutting counties and neighborhoods up.”

In your letter, talk about YOUR community. Your voice is most powerful in the area where you live.

Make sure your letter includes which set of maps you prefer—the Democratic Party is supporting Sen. Wayne’s maps. The other set of maps supported by the Republicans are from Sen. Linehan and cut Douglas County in half among many other power grab moves.

You do not have to be a data expert to submit a letter, your experiences with elections is what your Senator needs to hear.

View the proposed maps—remember we support the Wayne maps.

Counties should be kept whole as much as possible when drawing fair maps, especially in rural areas.

Neighborhoods should never be split—this causes confusion for voters.

Groups of counties that make up a legislative district should have similar interests.

Communities of color should not be diluted nor should they be packed into concentrated legislative districts.

Congressional districts should keep urban and suburban areas together, while keeping rural areas in rural districts. For more points about preserving the Blue Dot,

Redistricting Committee Members:
The process in Nebraska names 5 Republicans and 4 Democratic members of the state legislature to develop maps that are then debated, amended and voted on by the full legislature.

You can email the Committee Members (redpl@leg.ne.gov) your comments as well as email your own state senator (find a list of senators here):

Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, Chair (R)
Sen. Justin Wayne, Vice Chair (D)
Sen. Carol Blood, (D)
Sen. Tom Briese, (R)
Sen. Tom Brewer, (R)
Sen. Suzanne Geist, (R)
Sen. Steve Lathrop, (D)
Sen. John Lowe, (R)
Sen. Adam Morfeld,(D)

Public hearings:

The Redistricting Committee held three public hearings, as required, in CD1, CD2 and CD3 on Sept, 14-16.

If you could not attend a hearing, you should submit a comment to the Redistricting Committee members (just use redpl@leg.ne.gov to email all of them at once) and use our tool to submit a letter to your state senator.

Redistricting Committee Schedule:

Aug. 30-31 –- Map Training Analysis of numbers Subcommittees Adopt Administrative Guidelines & Operating Procedures Base Map Direction Preparation

Sept. 7-11 –- Committee Meets as necessary

Sept. 7 — Training for Committee

Sept. 13 -– Session Starts & Initial Plan introduced

Sept. 14-16 –- Public Hearings to get feedback on the proposed maps

September 14 at 1:30 p.m. CT in Grand Island
Central Community College, Room 555, Health Science Education Center, 3134 W. Hwy 34

September 15 at 9:00 a.m. CT in Lincoln
Nebraska State Capitol, Room 1524, 1445 K St.

September 16 at 10 a.m. CT in Omaha
Scott Conference Center, 6450 Pine St.

Sept. 16 -– Committee amendments prepped and advanced from committee

Sept. 17 (tentative) — First-round debate on the legislature floor

We do not have a set end date for the special session, but most expect it will be mid-October.

More Information and Trainings:

Download a flyer from the NDP with talking points, sample testimony and links to help you prepare your public hearing testimony or to help you with your email that you can submit to your state senator and the Redistricting Committee members.

Download a flyer about the 2nd Congressional District from NDRC’s All on the Line. Great info!

Watch the NDP and NDRC training on redistricting with Sen. Blood and Chair Kleeb.

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Follow developments on the Nebraska Legislative study group Facebook page. Also watch the video of their Sept. 1 Facebook discussion on redistricting in Nebraska. Panelists included Senators Blood, McCollister and Wayne as well as Sam Petto with the ACLU and Rachel Gibson with League of Women Voters of Nebraska.

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The League of Women Voters of Lincoln-Lancaster County held a redistricting training with State Senators Briese and Lathrop. The LWV is a great resource for information.