Redistricting Reform: Beth Hufnagel Team Leader
Every ten years, the US Constitution requires that a census be taken and be used to reapportion voters into Congressional and state legislative districts. It was the expectation that there would be a Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly in the fall of 2021 to consider the legislative and Congressional maps drawn by the Maryland Citizen Redistricting Commission (MCRC), who are an independent commission created by Governor Hogan. However, since the detailed Census data needed to draw the maps will not be issued by the Census Bureau until August 30, and then the re-allocation of the count of incarcerated persons to their residence prior to incarceration rather than the facility where they were held during the census, may take until the end of October, the approval of new maps is deferred until the 2022 General Session of the MGA.
Legislation
Several bills were introduced this session to strengthen standards by which districts are drawn. All died in committee.
- HB339 Legislative District Standards
- HB410; HB965; and HB1260 Congressional District Standards(Anti-Gerrymandering of Maryland’s Congressional Districts)
Fair Maps Maryland Campaign
LWVMD will continue to advocate for strengthened legislative and Congressional district standards around redistricting and transparency of the drawing of maps by the Maryland General Assembly leadership and the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission. We will work to facilitate the creation of community of interest (COI) maps. We hope to produce our own maps, based on the LWV positions with consideration of these COI maps. We are now reaching out to additional partners to make the Fair Maps Maryland Campaign a reality.
The advocacy team produced an Issue Paper entitled Redistricting Reform in Maryland.
