This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court passed up three separate chances to rule on the issue of partisan gerrymandering, delivering a major blow to the movement to take partisan politics out of the process of setting legislative district boundaries.

That hasn’t deterred those behind this reform movement, however.  As federal courts struggle with how to properly address this issue, activists have begun tackling it state-by-state, often at the grassroots level.

In Michigan, for example, a proposed constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering, written and promoted by a nonpartisan group called Voters Not Politicians, will be on the ballot in November, unless blocked by a court challenge that so far has fallen short.  So many Michiganders signed petitions to bring the measure to a vote — 110,000 more than state law requires — that the group ended its signature campaign 70 days short of the six months allowed.  This proposal would create an Independent Redistricting Commission with a total of 13 members:  4 from each of the two largest political parties (currently Republicans and Democrats), plus 5 who are not affiliated with either major party.

In Missouri, another nonpartisan group called Clean Missouri needed 180,000 signatures to get its anti-gerrymandering initiative on the ballot.  It collected 346,000.  Final certification is expected later this month.  Besides making other legislative reforms, this initiative would have a nonpartisan expert draw the legislative maps, which would then be reviewed by a citizen commission.

In Utah, meanwhile, Better Boundaries collected 190,000 signatures (75,000 more than required) to place its proposition to end gerrymanders on the November ballot.  This initiative would create a seven-member commission to redraw the maps, with one member appointed by the governor, three by majority-party legislative leaders, and three by minority-party leaders.  The initiative would also set standards for redistricting plans and authorize lawsuits to block implementation of any plan enacted by the legislature that fails to conform to those standards.

Finally, in Colorado, both the Democratic-run House and the Republican-run Senate voted unanimously in May to place two proposals on the November ballot that would shift the duty to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from lawmakers and into the hands of independent redistricting commissions.

Those proposals join another, in Ohio, that became law in May. There the state legislature put a measure to curb partisan gerrymandering of the state’s congressional districts on the ballot for the state’s May 8 primary, after it became apparent that a citizens’ campaign for an even tougher measure was likely to succeed.  Ohioans approved the legislature’s version by a 3-1 margin; lawmakers must now come up with a compromise congressional map in 2020 that does not only benefit the party in control.