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1A Remaking America: When parties pick their voters

People gather during a rally to coincide with the Supreme Court hearings on the redistricting cases in Maryland and North Carolina, in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
People gather during a rally to coincide with the Supreme Court hearings on the redistricting cases in Maryland and North Carolina, in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC.

In November, voters will pick their representatives in the midterm elections. But some of those voters have also been hand-picked by political parties.

This year judges in four states – Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, and Alabama ruled that congressional maps were illegally drawn around partisan or racial lines to favor Republicans.

With four months to go before Alabama’s primary, the Supreme Court said it was too close to an election to order new maps.  That set a precedent allowing all four states to useillegallygerrymandered maps this fall.

What does this mean for future elections and voting rights if states can use illegally drawn maps? How close is too close to an election to change things?

Copyright 2022 WAMU 88.5

Anna Casey