League of Women Voters of the United States Chief Executive Officer Virginia Case Solomon
Fair Maps Missouri is partnering with academic and redistricting experts to sponsor a mapping contest to produce the best possible congressional, state senate, and state house maps for Missouri.
Citizen-drawn maps will show that fair, representative maps that reflect our diverse state are possible as Missouri’s Redistricting Commissions undertake the once-every-10-years task of drawing legislative districts in October.
All maps submitted as part of the contest will be made public and reviewed by a panel of nonpartisan redistricting experts and academics. Cash prizes will be awarded for winning maps.
Here’s what you need to know:
- The mapping contest website and portal is live now here.
- Spread the word — with your colleagues, on your campus, or on #Election Twitter.
- If you’ve never drawn maps before, Fair Maps MO will be having group Map-A-Thons on Oct. 23 and Oct. 25. Sign up here if you want to join.
- If you have questions, email contest@openmapsmo.org.
The deadline to submit maps is 11:50 p.m. on Oct. 31.
League of Women Voters supports fair maps
People Powered Fair Maps™ is a national redistricting program of the League of Women Voters focused on creating fair political maps in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. League of Women Voters of North Carolina that no fair test exists for courts to determine when partisan gerrymandering has gone too far. As a result, federal courts will be hands-off in the redistricting process even when new district lines are drawn to intentionally decrease the voting power of voters based solely on their political party.
People Powered Fair Maps™ was launched by the League of Women Voters to create fair and transparent, people-powered redistricting processes that eliminate partisan and racial gerrymandering.