Map with Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) in DistrictBuilder
Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) is the total population aged 18 and over and also a citizen. The estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent ACS data release. Thanks to VEST, the data were disaggregated from Block Group to Block for use in DistrictBuilder mapping and analysis.
Why would you use CVAP for redistricting?
There is some disagreement over the use of CVAP in redistricting. In general, it should not be used for redistricting — with one exception. When verifying that a majority-minority district in fact does represent a majority of citizens of a certain protected group, CVAP has been used by the Courts. However, many have argued that citizenship is not valid for redistricting, and in fact, it has been used to try to invalidate minority representation, so proceed with caution. We do not agree when it's used for that purpose.
However, CVAP can be a good indicator of groups protected under the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and their level of potential to elect candidates of choice. When redistricting plans are challenged under the VRA, a CVAP share of 50 percent or more for protected groups is the highest standard that can be used by the courts to evaluate VRA compliance.
How to display and analyze CVAP on your DistrictBuilder map
To toggle your map between All people, Voting age population (VAP), and Citizen voting age population (CVAP), simply click the gear icon at the top of your map. The Drawing and Districts menu will open, enabling you to click on VAP or CVAP to switch the underlying demographic data in your map. Don’t worry — you can toggle between all three and it won’t permanently change your map’s data.
Switching to VAP or CVAP will alter the district demographic information but not the total population, which is used to calculate population deviation. That means the demographic chart will update but not the district deviation number or percentage. In addition, if you open the Majority-Minority metric viewer while switching to VAP or CVAP, it will use that data instead for calculating majority-minority districts. In the example below, see how Kansas House Districts 32 and 35 change depending on using CVAP versus All populations.
All people on the left, CVAP on the right.
Note that using all people, District 32 is a majority-minority district at 65% Hispanic. But with CVAP, the district is only 39% Hispanic, indicating that this district’s Hispanic majority might not be adequate to sustain a legal challenge as a true majority-minority district. District 35 is a minority coalition district using All people but is a Black majority district when using only CVAP.
We have added CVAP data to better enable the public and researchers to understand minority representation in redistricting in the U.S. We hope that users will find the data informative and useful in identifying districts that fall into that gold standard for VRA compliance. If you have any questions about how to use the data, please contact us.
