”When other states redraw their electoral maps to deliberately make certain citizens' votes meaningless, Utah can restore its electoral map with the intention of protecting citizens' right to vote”, writes Judge Diana Gibson in her decision.
In several states, politicians are bent over maps and trying to secure more congressional seats in next year's midterm elections by redrawing the boundaries of the states' electoral districts.
The latest rush to redraw the maps began in Texas, where Republicans, at the urging of President Donald Trump, voted through a new map that is believed to give the party five new seats in the House of Representatives and thus continued control over the lower house of Congress. California responded in the same way to the Democrats' advantage, and since then, several other states have joined the queue.
In Utah's case, the verdict concerns an existing map that has been used in the last two elections and has worked in the Republicans' favor. The state politicians who voted through it did wrong by disregarding another map developed by an independent committee, the judge states.
Utah politicians now have a month to approve a map that meets the standard approved by the state's voters.
Normally, the states' electoral districts are redrawn every tenth year based on new census data.
