Raise Your Voice!
Redistricting Hearings are Happening Now
The Redistricting and Apportionment Commissions are holding hearings now. The redistricting process needs your voice on behalf of Fair Maps!
Testimony is one of the most effective tools we have to ensure that those in charge of redistricting hear from and are accountable to the public. Research has shown that public testimony at redistricting hearings is effective when it offers specific instructions to mapmakers, focuses on small-scale changes (like keeping a neighborhood together), and effectively defines a community and its needs for representation.
You are the expert on your community. That's why the redistricting process needs your voice!
Interested? Here's how to get involved.
First, pledge to attend a public hearing. Click Here to see a list of upcoming hearings, and indicate which ones you can attend. A Fair Districts New Jersey representative will follow-up with you.
Each Commission has committed to hold ten public hearings. Hearing dates and registration information are available on the Commissions' websites:
Click Here to check the public meetings pages for the Apportionment Commission (which redraws legislative districts)
Click Here for the Redistricting Commission public meetings page (for congressional districts)
Second, review materials to help you prepare effective testimony, and review the tips below.
Fair Districts Testimony Training Video
Third, review the Fair Districts New Jersey non-partisan redistricting principles. Let the Commissioners know that they must commit to clear, non-partisan line drawing standards, including:
A racial equity provision reinforcing the principles of the Voting Rights Act, ensuring that New Jersey's communities of color have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.
A commitment to preserving communities of interest to the greatest extent possible.
A guarantee that plans shall not be established for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring any office holder, candidate, or political party.
