Experience

One of Nielsen Merksamer’s leading specialties for more than 40 years has been advising public agencies—states, counties, cities, school districts, and special districts, on the complex web of federal and state laws governing voting rights and redistricting. We also have experience advising independent redistricting commissions.

Our practice provides a unique combination of knowledge of redistricting law along with knowledge of and facility with the GIS systems and databases fundamental to redistricting and voting rights analysis.

Just in the last decade alone, the firm has advised well over 100 public entities on all aspects of the redistricting process, state and federal voting rights law, including potential liability under the Federal and California Voting Rights Acts (“FVRA” and “CVRA”), on the process of transitioning from at-large voting to district-based elections, and on the substantive legal considerations regarding the drawing of the lines, including compliance with California’s recently-enacted FAIR MAPS Act. Our level of experience in these matters is, we believe, unparalleled in California.

And while no redistricting plan adopted by a public entity while advised by this firm has ever been successfully challenged in court, we also have long experience litigating under these laws on behalf of public agencies. Some of our recent matters include:

2021-2022 Redistricting

A representative sample of the many jurisdictions that Nielsen Merksamer advised on redistricting during the 2021-2022 cycle includes:

States (congressional and legislative)

• New Mexico Citizen Redistricting Committee

Counties

• San Diego County Independent Redistricting Commission
• Kern County Board of Supervisors
• Marin County Board of Supervisors
• Merced County Board of Supervisors
• Monterey County Board of Supervisors
• San Benito County Board of Supervisors
• Tulare County Board of Supervisors & Redistricting Advisory Committee

Cities

• Atascadero City Council
• Covina City Council
• Encinitas City Council
• Fresno City Council
• Los Banos City Council
• Moreno Valley City Council
• Ontario City Council
• Orange City Council
• Palm Desert City Council
• San Luis Obispo City Council
• San Mateo City Council
• San Rafael City Council
• Santa Barbara City Council
• Sunnyvale City Council
• Victorville City Council

School Districts

• Bakersfield City School District
• Cajon Valley Elementary School District
• Coast Community College District
• College of the Sequoias
• Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District
• El Tejon School District
• Fresno Unified School District
• Grossmont Union High School District
• Kern County Board of Education
• Kern High School District
• Lakeside Union School District (Kern County)
• MiraCosta Community College District
• Norris School District
• Orange County Board of Education
• Panama-Buena Vista School District
• Richland Elementary School District
• San Diego Community College District
• San Diego County Board of Education
• San Jose-Evergreen Community College District
• Santa Clarita Community College District
• Tehachapi Elementary School District
• West Hills Community College District

Special Districts

• Central Basin Municipal Water District
• Central Contra Costa County Sanitary District
• Goleta West Sanitary District
• Kings River Conservation District
• Merced Irrigation District
• Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
• Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
• Santa Clara Valley Water District
• Washington Hospital District
• Water Replenishment District of Southern Cal.
• West Basin Water District