Areas for Future Research

With a growing number of states using redistricting commissions, and another districting cycle on the books, there are obvious opportunities to add more data to many of the existing lines of research described above. This work should obviously continue.

A few suggested areas for further research:

How Redistricting Commissions Handle Trade-offs

Different states direct commissions to prioritize across different criteria. Thus far, the studies have focused on evaluating the individual criteria on their own (primarily partisan neutrality and competition) rather than evaluating them as an ensemble with trade-offs.

Some of this analysis could be data-oriented. But real value would come from more descriptive qualitative work that takes an interview- and process-oriented case study approach to the ways in which different redistricting commissions have gone about their work, and how they have handled the competing pressures.

Redistricting Best Practices

To the extent that different states have explored different approaches to redistricting, both in terms of how commissions are structured and how criteria are prioritized, this variation can generate lessons. Particularly if the above qualitative case study approach is undertaken, a complementary compendium of best practices could be developed as well.

The Downstream Consequences of Redistricting Commissions on Trust, Engagement, and Polarization

While studies have measured the effects of commissions on particular outcomes, no study at the time of this writing has assessed whether independent commissions increase citizens’ trust in the political process, their likelihood of voting, or their broader engagement with the political system. Part of the criticism of gerrymandering is that it erodes trust and faith in the democratic process. But this is a testable hypothesis: if it is correct, states with independent commissions should see improvements in trust and faith and the process, and increases in political participation.

Moreover, to the extent that gerrymandering might be responsible for polarization, this suggests that states with independent redistricting commissions should see a reduction in polarization of their state legislatures, compared to states that do not.