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Redistricting Background

Reapportionment and Redistricting in Nevada: An Overview (Legislative Counsel Bureau)

Every ten years, following the Federal Census, the Nevada State Legislature is responsible for reapportioning and redistricting the districts for:

• The United States House of Representatives;
• The Nevada State Senate;
• The Nevada State Assembly; and
• The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents.

The Nevada Constitution provides that “representation shall be apportioned according to population” (Article 1, Section 13) and that the census “…shall serve as the basis of representation in both houses of the Legislature” (Article 15, Section 13).

“Redistricting” is the act of redrawing the boundaries for election districts. Because the population shifts over time, district boundaries must be adjusted periodically to ensure districts are equally populated. Since the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that electoral districts must have equal population or nearly equal population so that each person’s vote has equal weight (known as the “one-person, one-vote” requirement).

“Reapportionment” is the division of a given number of elected members among established political subdivisions in accordance with an existing plan or formula. For example, the 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representatives are reapportioned among the 50 states every 10 years following the decennial census.

Local governments also reapportion and redistrict the districts for county commission, city council, and school board of trustees. Please contact one of these local governing bodies in your community for more information.

Redistricting History

In 2011, the Nevada Legislature was unable to complete the redistricting process during the 120-day regular legislative session due to an impasse that arose when Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed the redistricting measures approved by the Legislature. The governor did not call for a special legislative session to complete redistricting, thus the process fell to the courts (at the time, the legislature could not call itself into special session). Following a number of hearings, judicial briefs, motions, and pleas, District Court Judge James T. Russell appointed three Special Masters to accomplish redistricting. The court-approved maps produced by the Special Masters included four congressional districts (an increase of one), and retained the size of the Nevada Legislature at 21 senators and 42 members of the Assembly.

For the first time in Nevada's redistricting history, the districts in both houses were single-member, and two Assembly districts were perfectly nested within each Senate district. The average population of the Assembly districts was 64,299 people and the average population of each Senate district was 128,598, based on the 2010 U.S. Census. The state's population was just over 2.7 million in 2010.

15 Senate districts were located wholly within Clark County, 4 were in the Washoe County/Carson City area (one of which included 5 counties in western Nevada), and 2 were in rural parts of the state. One rural Senate district consisted of Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, and Storey Counties, and the other consisted of all of Elko, Eureka, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties, and parts of Nye and Clark Counties. The 42 Assembly districts included 30 districts wholly within Clark County, 8 districts in the Washoe County/Carson City/western Nevada area, and 4 districts within the 2 rural Senate districts.

Links

• "Legislative Redistricting," Political History of Nevada, 2018: History of legislative redistricting in Nevada from statehood to 2011
• Nevada District Boundary Changes Over Time interactive map application: View Nevada district boundary changes over time for Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents districts.
• 2011 Reapportionment and Redistricting Website
• Legislative Commission's Committee to Study the Requirements for Reapportionment and Redistricting and resulting Committee report
• Redistricting Newsletters: Volume 2, No. 1 and Volume 2, No. 2
• Redistricting Fact Sheets (Search by keywords “redistricting fact sheet")
• Prior to 2011 Reapportionment and Redistricting

2011 Redistricting Legislation

• Final District Plans: Maps, Tables, and Shapefiles
• Special Masters Plans: Reports, Maps, and Tables
• Legislative Proposals: Bills, Maps, and Tables
• Public Proposals: Maps and Tables
• Federal and State Laws and Session Rules
• 2011 Joint Standing Rules 13 through 13.6:  Reapportionment

Additional Information