re: Time to call your Senators in DC

Read up on how it is done in Iowa. This should be how it is done nationwide.

If Iowa can do it, so can any state. Not buying that it can't be done nationwide.

The Legislative Services Agency prepares redistricting plans for approval by the Iowa State Legislature.

According to All About Redistricting, the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) consists of "civil servants committed to nonpartisanship and otherwise charged with tasks like legal and fiscal analysis of state legislation and state government oversight."

The LSA is assisted by a commission, which consists of the following members:

one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa State Senate
one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa State Senate
one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
one member selected by the first four members

The members of this commission cannot "hold partisan public office or an office in a political party, and none may be a relative or employee of a federal or state legislator (or the legislature as a whole)."

Working with this commission, the LSA drafts congressional and state legislative district lines. The maps are presented as a single bill to the state legislature, which may approve or reject the bill without altering it (the legislature can provide feedback). If the legislature rejects the plan, the LSA must draft a second proposal. If the legislature rejects the second proposal, the LSA must draft a third, and final, set of maps. If the legislature rejects this plan, it may then approve its own maps. Since the implementation of this process in 1980, the state legislature has never chosen not to approve an LSA proposal. Redistricting plans are also subject to gubernatorial veto. In addition, the legislature may repeal or revise the maps at any time, though it has never done so.[34]

State law establishes the following criteria for both congressional and state legislative districts:[34]

Districts must be "convenient and contiguous."
Districts must "preserve the integrity of political subdivisions like counties and cities."

Districts must "to the extent consistent with other requirements, reasonably compact–defined in terms of regular polygons, comparisons of length and width, and overall boundary perimeter." In addition, state House districts are required to be contained within state Senate districts "where possible, and where not in conflict with the criteria above."

It is explicit in state law that district lines cannot be drawn "to favor a political party, incumbent, or other person or group."

Bump

Let’s make sure it doesn’t pass.