One year from now, the US Census Bureau will be releasing population data from the 2010 Census. In state capitols across the country, legislative staff, redistricting consultants and Republican stakeholders will be importing those data into their redistricting software systems. That is the easy part. The hard part is compiling the political data that will be de-allocated and matched to the 2010 Census data. Without political data, redistricting professionals will draw redistricting plans based solely upon population, race, and ethnicity data.
In certain states, Republicans will rely upon state legislative staff or an academic entity to compile the political data, but the vast majority will need someone to properly collect, compile and match precinct election return data from election cycles from 2001 to 2010. This process is one of the services that Magellan has vast experience in. Magellan Partners, David Flaherty and John Diez, have constructed political redistricting databases for more than 15 years. As you plan for the the 2010 redistricting cycle and do not have a redistricting data professional already on board, feel free to give us a call or visit our redistricting page.