[EL] common assertion about redistricting isn't true

[Richard Winger]

Whenever an article is published about redistricting combined with the existence of the Voting Rights Act, the author usually says that 2011 is the first redistricting year in which a Democrat has been in charge of the executive branch of the US government.

The New York Times story on redistricting, which Rick Hasen linked to yesterday, is one example.

However, it isn't true.  1965 and 1966 were redistricting years, and Lyndon Johnson was president then.  Those two years were redistricting years because of the US Supreme Court's 1964 rulings mandating equal population in US House districts and roughly equal population in state legislative districts.  Every state had to redistrict in 1965/1966.
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