Policy Backgrounders

Independent Redistricting Commissions

June 22, 2023

Independent Redistricting Commissions (IRCs) are a voter-centric reform that ensures voters, not politicians, decide how electoral districts are drawn. To ensure independence, some states take measures such as barring current or former elected officials, as well as those with close ties to elected officials or partisan politics, from serving on a commission.

• Several states have adopted an IRC process, with 10 states using commissions to draw congressional lines and 15 states using commissions to draw legislative district lines.

• Michigan’s recently established IRC resulted in a map that is among the most politically balanced in the country. Prior to the 2018 ballot initiative resulting in an amendment that took map-drawing out of the hands of the state legislature, the state’s 2011 maps were considered to be the most aggressive gerrymanders in the country.