Bill > SF2026

This bill establishes comprehensive principles for drawing congressional and legislative districts in Minnesota, focusing on creating fair and representative electoral maps. The bill introduces detailed guidelines that require districts to be approximately equal in population, with legislative districts allowed a maximum population deviation of three percent. It mandates that districts provide equal opportunity for racial, ethnic, and language minorities to participate in the political process and potentially elect candidates of their choice. Districts must be contiguous, with water-based connections acceptable if travel is not seriously obstructed. The bill prohibits deliberately dividing American Indian Tribal reservations and requires minimizing divisions of communities of interest, which are defined broadly to include groups with shared experiences or concerns. Political subdivisions like counties and cities should be kept intact as much as possible. Critically, the bill introduces two significant new requirements: first, redistricting plans cannot purposely favor or disfavor specific candidates or incumbents, and second, the proportion of districts favoring each political party must closely match the statewide partisan voter preferences, calculated using election data from the previous six years. This approach aims to create a more proportional representation system that reflects the overall political landscape of Minnesota while protecting minority voting rights and maintaining geographic coherence.

Government Affairs

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=Senate&f=SF2026&ssn=0&y=2025