HR7219-119

What This Bill Does

The FAIR MAP Act combines congressional redistricting rules, apportionment-count changes, and federal-election identification requirements. Congressional districts must be contiguous, as compact as practicable, not drawn to discourage competition or favor or disfavor an incumbent, candidate, or political party, and must consider existing district cores, counties, cities, towns, and communities of interest. Population equality is measured using citizens and aliens with lawful immigration status. After a State redistricts following a decennial apportionment, it cannot redistrict again until the next apportionment unless a court requires it to comply with the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, or the FAIR MAP Act. Beginning with the 2030 census, Census questionnaires must ask citizenship or lawful-status questions, and apportionment excludes aliens without lawful status. Challenges to congressional districts must be brought in federal district court. For federal elections after November 3, 2026, in-person voters must present a valid federal, State, or Tribal photo ID, and non-in-person ballots must include a signed card or envelope whose signature matches the statewide voter-registration list.

Who Benefits and How

Voters in States with gerrymandered or unstable congressional maps, communities of interest, counties, cities, towns, redistricting plaintiffs, election-integrity advocates, and voters concerned about repeated mid-decade remaps benefit from compactness, contiguity, anti-favoritism, one-redistricting-per-apportionment, federal-court review, voter-ID, and signature-verification rules. States with relatively smaller unauthorized populations may benefit from apportionment counts based on citizens and lawfully present aliens rather than total resident population.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State redistricting authorities, State legislatures, map drawers, Census Bureau staff, State election officials, local election officials, mail-ballot administrators, federal district courts, voters without qualifying photo identification, voters with signature mismatches, aliens without lawful status, and States with relatively larger unauthorized populations face new compliance, data-collection, litigation, documentation, and representation burdens. Election offices must check federal, State, or Tribal photo IDs for in-person federal voters and compare non-in-person ballot signatures against statewide voter-registration records.

Key Provisions

• Requires congressional districts to be contiguous, compact where practicable, and not drawn to discourage competition or favor or disfavor incumbents, candidates, or parties.
• Requires States to consider existing district cores, political subdivisions, and communities of interest when drawing congressional districts.
• Limits States to one post-apportionment congressional redistricting cycle unless a court requires a later map.
• Requires 2030 and later census questionnaires to collect citizenship or lawful-status information for household members.
• Excludes aliens without lawful status from apportionment counts for House seats and electoral votes.
• Requires congressional redistricting challenges to be filed in federal district court.
• Requires photo ID for in-person federal voting and signature verification for non-in-person federal ballots after November 3, 2026.