About
Current Role
Jonathan Cervas is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), specializing in redistricting, voting rights, and American political institutions.
Research
Jonathan Cervas’s recent research focuses on the impact of redistricting on representation and voting rights in the United States. His work examines how district boundaries affect electoral outcomes, minority representation, and compliance with legal standards. Cervas has published studies on the Electoral College, partisan fairness, and the consequences of gerrymandering, providing data-driven insights that inform both academic debates and real-world policy decisions.
Redistricting
Jonathan Cervas has served as a court-appointed expert and consultant in major redistricting cases across the United States. His professional work includes drawing congressional and legislative maps for New York as Special Master, advising the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission, and consulting for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Cervas’s expertise has helped courts and commissions develop fair, legally compliant district plans, improve minority representation, and resolve complex voting rights disputes in states such as Alabama, Virginia, New York, and Wisconsin.
Media
Jonathan Cervas has been profiled by the New York Times, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and several other prominent news organizations. He has been quoted on several dozen news stories, and regularly asked to comment on local and national political issues.
Resources
These pages contain information for students who are looking for a letter of recommendation or to contribute to my research. I also include resources for the public and for journalists who are interested in redistricting and want to learn more.
I am Jonathan Cervas, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Institute for Strategy and Technology (Political Science) at Carnegie Mellon University, where I teach graduate and undergraduate courses on American politics, research methods, representation, and voting rights. I am also a Research Associate with the Electoral Innovation Lab at Princeton University and a contributor to the non-partisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
My research and professional work focus on political institutions, elections, redistricting, and voting rules. I have published eleven peer-reviewed articles in leading journals across political science, geography, economics, and law, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Geography, Social Science Quarterly, Public Choice, and the Election Law Journal. I have presented invited talks at Princeton University, the University of Houston, Albany Law School, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and numerous other venues. I also serve as a referee for major journals in my field.
I have extensive experience serving as a court-appointed special master, consultant, and expert witness in redistricting and voting rights cases. My appointments have included:
I joined Carnegie Mellon University in 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow after earning my M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. My doctoral dissertation, A Quantitative Assessment of the Electoral College, 1790–2020, examined the historical and statistical dimensions of presidential elections. I hold a B.A. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.