Jonathan Cervas
Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Politics and Strategy
- Posner Hall 387D
Bio
Jonathan joined the Institute for Politics and Strategy in 2020 after receiving his PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. His Bachelor’s degree (also in political science) is from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His dissertation is a historical, quantitative look at the Electoral College and its consequences.
Jonathan is a specialist in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and has worked as an assistant to a federal court Special Master in drawing remedial maps in redistricting cases involving minority rights. The first of these was Navajo Nation et al v. San Juan County, Utah in 2017; followed in 2018-19 by Bethune-Hill et al v. State Board of Election, which involved the redrawing of one quarter of the districts in Virginia's legislative districts in the House Of Delegates; and in 2019-20, he worked on Wright v. Sumter County Board of Elections, a case involving school districts in a small Georgia County where former President Jimmy Carter makes his home.
In 2022, a New York State judge named Cervas as the special master in charge of redrawing the state’s Congressional maps. Cervas redrew the maps and published a report on the project.
He has published several articles on both the elections and gerrymandering,