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Mandated by the Dallas City Charter, the 2021 City Council Redistricting Plan is the culmination of the redistricting process or the redrawing of City Council district lines from which Council Members are elected. Redistricting usually takes place every 10 years after each U.S. Census and affects all jurisdictions that use districts including state legislative and congressional districts, county commissions, city councils and school boards.

Upon the release of the 2020 census data, governing boards of local government bodies should review population changes to determine if districts have become imbalanced and must be redrawn. Out-of-balance electoral districts may require the local government to rebalance the population among the districts.

As required by the City Charter, the City Council appointed a 15-member Redistricting Commission to develop the districting plan based on the latest decennial counts in compliance with the City Charter and federal law. Upon completion of its work, the Redistricting Commission will file the recommended districting plan with the Mayor for presentation to the City Council. The Council has 45 days after the districting plan is submitted to the Mayor to adopt, or modify and adopt, a new districting plan. Any modification requires approval by three-fourths of the City Council. If final action is not taken by the City Council within 45 days, the Redistricting Commission plan becomes final.

The new districting plan will be implemented at the next general election of the City Council conducted at least 90 days following the date the final districting plan becomes effective for the City, currently projected for May 6, 2023.

The 2021 redistricting process will mark the first time since 1972 that Texas cities undertake the redistricting process without the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Historically, Section 5 of the VRA required Texas cities to obtain approval of voting changes, including redistricting plans, from the Department of Justice prior to using them in an election. As a result of a 2014 ruling by the United States Supreme Court, Section 5 preclearance is no longer applicable. However, cities remain subject to the nondiscrimination requirements of Section 2 of the VRA.