Texas residents enjoy one of the most informative and data-laden redistricting websites of any state in America, maintained by the Texas Legislative Council. The site contains detailed descriptions of the redistricting process in Texas; the state and federal requirements for various types of districts; and an interactive “DistrictViewer” capable of comparing actual and proposed maps down to the street level.

But the information we found most interesting was an archive of congressional redistricting plans from Texas statehood until today.

The maps show Texas’ early days as a two-district state (a jarring image for those used to seeing a 32-district congressional powerhouse). There are historical quirks like Texas’ temporary 19th Century claim to Greene County, which spent several years with no House representation at all and later became part of Oklahoma.

The archive also clearly demonstrates the impact of Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), which established the redistricting principle that all congressional districts must be approximately equal in population. As was common in many urbanizing Southern states prior to Wesberry, the archive shows that Texas redistricted only once between 1917 and 1957. And the 1965 redistricting plan was the first in which several urban counties were split into more than one congressional district. (The 1957 plan only divided Harris County in half, whereas 5 counties were divided in 1965.)

And of course, there’s the infamous DeLay-mander of 2003, the maps for which are more commonly available.

All-in-all, this is a wonderful resource for those interested in political history. If combined with county-level election results, it might be interesting to see how some of these districts voted in presidential elections – recent or otherwise.

The end of the Colorado legislative session also marked the end of another Democrat’s historic reign as Speaker. Terrance D. Carroll, who is unable to run for re-election because of term limits, served his final day as State house Speaker last week:

The grandson of a sharecropper, Carroll has the distinction of serving as Colorado's first black House speaker. Although his term doesn't expire until early January, he banged the gavel on Wednesday for the last time during the regular session. (…)

Carroll became a lawmaker in March 2003, when he was appointed to the seat held by Rep. Peter Groff, who resigned to take Penfield Tate's seat in the Senate.

Groff would go on to become the first black president of the state Senate. When House Democrats elected Carroll speaker two days after the November 2008 election, Colorado made history.

That history, of course, is as the first U.S. State to have both of its legislative chambers led by African-Americans – at least since Reconstruction and possibly ever.

But beyond making history, Speaker Carroll earned bipartisan praise for his fairness in leading the chamber:

Rep. Amy Stephens of Monument, the House GOP caucus chair, praised Carroll on three fronts: his fairness, devotion to his late mother and fashion sense.

"Terrance has always been one of my favorite people," she said.

At only 41, and with other experience as an attorney, police officer, and ordained minister, we expect Speaker Carroll will continue to find ways to serve the people of Colorado. And we wish him and his family all the best.

Former Texas Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby wrote a fascinating article for the Houston Chronicle last week about the history of redistricting in the United States. Hobby covers the Voting Rights Act, Baker v. Carr, and even Reconstruction-era reapportionment fights.

One of the most interesting stories to us is about how 19th Century Republicans had a near-immediate case of buyer’s remorse when they realized that freeing the slaves would up-end the infamous “Three-Fifths Compromise” that had counted each slave as only 3/5 of a person in congressional reapportionment:

The original Constitution said only three-fifths of the slaves were to be counted for apportionment. When the North won the Civil War, Congress abolished slavery by the 13th Amendment, thereby putting the other two-fifths of the slaves into the apportionment base.

That would have given the Confederate states 16 more seats in Congress and new electoral votes — enough to give the Democrats control of Congress and elect a president.

Hobby discusses several strategies Republicans tried to offset the expected Southern gains, but the situation was ultimately defused because of strong growth in Western states, severe under-counting of African-Americans and Southerners in the 1870 Census, and Civil War casualties which offset the end of the 3/5-era.

The article has a whole host of stories from later years, and it’s well-worth a read. And of course, if you’d like more information about these topics, RedistrictingFacts.com has fact sheets about the Supreme Court and Redistricting, the Voting Rights Act and Redistricting, and redistricting law in each state.

Throughout this year, New Hampshire was a state that we watched closely. On Election Day, the Granite State offered plenty of good news, but one statistic in particular caught my eye.

In addition to maintaining Democratic majorities in both the state house and state senate, the voters of New Hampshire chose to make a bit of history.

For the first time ever, women have gained the majority in a legislative chamber.

After Tuesday’s election, thirteen of the twenty-four state Senate seats in New Hampshire are now occupied by women. Peggy Gilmore (District 12), Bette Lasky (District 13) and Amanda Merrill (District 21) beat out their Republican opponents to join the eight Democratic female incumbents (and two Republican women) in the upper chamber.

This post was written by Danielle Horowtiz, a Klindt/Dye Intern for the 2008 Fall Semester.

Our office is closed in celebration of Independence Day, so I've got no legislative news to share. But I do want to relate a different kind of story altogether that I enjoyed today:

After years of searching, archaeologists have identified and excavated the boyhood home of George Washington, site of such legendary -- if perhaps apocryphal -- events as chopping down the cherry tree and throwing a coin across the Rappahannock River.

That's a fantastic piece of news for American cultural heritage on the 232nd anniversary of our birth as a nation.

God save our American states.