Arkansas lawmakers are returning to the state Capitol Wednesday following an extended recess to formally begin the process of re-drawing the state’s four U.S. Congressional districts.

KUAR News spoke with Heather Yates, Ph.D., an associate professor of American Politics at the University of Central Arkansas, on what to expect from this year’s redistricting session. You can read an edited transcript of the conversation below.

What exactly is redistricting?

“Redistricting is the process that states undergo every 10 years to literally redraw the geographic electoral boundaries of the state's congressional districts, and on a state level its state Senate and state House districts. And the reason why the states do this is because they are commanded by Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution to take a count of the population. So every 10 years we take the Census, and then the state legislature uses that Census data then to reapportion the congressional districts to make sure that every person living in the United States has representation in the House of Representatives.”

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/what-expect-when-youre-redistricting