This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at .聽Sign up for today.
This content was republished with permission from WTOP鈥檚 news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for today.
Maryland senators advanced a legislative redistricting proposal Tuesday that could help vulnerable Democrats in the upcoming election and did not vote on a separate proposal by a panel that Republican Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. convened.
The redistricting plan that the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee advanced in a party-line 11-4 vote Tuesday afternoon was proposed by the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, a panel convened by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County).
The vote came after a joint hearing by the Senate committee and the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee.
A proposal from the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission 鈥� to which Hogan appointed Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters to draw legislative maps 鈥� wasn鈥檛 taken up for a vote.
The move to advance the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission proposal and leave the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission proposal in committee mirrors Democratic lawmakers鈥� strategy on congressional redistricting聽聽in December.
The favorable committee vote means the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission鈥檚 proposal could head to the Senate floor sometime this week. Lawmakers used existing districts as a baseline for that map, although the proposal does include some聽.
Lawmakers added a single-member majority Black district in Baltimore County to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, shifted District 9 in Howard County to include part of northern Montgomery County rather than southern Carroll County, and reduced the number of full senatorial districts in Baltimore City to account for population losses over the past decade.
One shift around Frederick County in the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission鈥檚 proposal drew scrutiny from a Democrat on the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, Sen. Ron Young (D-Frederick).
The city of Frederick would be contained within a three-member delegate District 3 encircled entirely by District 4 in the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission鈥檚 proposal. Currently District 3 includes the city, extends south to the Potomac River and is split into two subdistricts, with most of the city in a two-member subdistrict and the area southeast of the city in a single-member district.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 see a reason to change that,鈥� Young, who represents the 3rd District, said.
House Majority Eric G. Luedkte (D-Montgomery County) said the 鈥渃onstitutional default鈥� in Maryland is a three-member delegate district, and said the change was warranted given Frederick鈥檚 rapid growth over the last decade. Young eventually voted to advance the map.
Hogan was constitutionally required to begin the legislative redistricting process by submitting a map to the General Assembly. That district map becomes law if legislators don鈥檛 make any changes within 45 days. In written testimony, Hogan said his Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 maps were 鈥渇ree from political influence and offer the opportunity for fair elections in Maryland.鈥�
Hogan noted that population deviations are kept to a minimum in the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 maps. While legislative districts are allowed to have a plus or minus 5% deviation from the target population, that panel鈥檚 maps keep population deviation to less than 2% for senatorial districts and less than 3% in delegate districts.
The Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission map keeps population variances to plus or minus 4%. At a public hearing last month, Karl Aro, chair of the legislative redistricting panel and a former head of the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services, said that figure is smaller than any legislative maps he worked on during his tenure at the Department of Legislative Services.
Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City) questioned the independence of the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, since Hogan created it by聽聽and, to some extent, told them how to craft the map, including mandating that commission members not consider where incumbents live or voters鈥� party affiliation when drawing up districts.
鈥淭hat implies to me that the governor was drawing the map,鈥� Washington said of the executive order鈥檚 requirements.
Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission Co-Chair Walter Olson (R) said the executive order didn鈥檛 require the commission to 鈥渃onsider the wishes of the governor or anyone in his office,鈥� and added that panelists also considered the U.S. and state constitutions and federal law.
鈥淲hen we were told to ignore the interests of incumbents, by golly, we ignored the interest of incumbents,鈥� Olson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something [the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission] was not told to do, and presumably also did not do.鈥�
The Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission opted to start from scratch rather than work with existing districts, but the lawmaker-dominated聽Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission generally aimed to keep districts intact.
鈥淭hese districts have been around a long time, some for many years, some for decades, and by the very existence of them lasting that long they basically have created a communities of interests,鈥� Aro said.
Election officials who testified said that lawmakers should move quickly to enact new maps, since local boards of elections are already short on time to reconfigure precincts and educate voters before this year鈥檚 June primary election.
鈥淭here is a lot of work that needs to be done in order for the precincts, the polling places, the election judges, et cetera to be ready for the election,鈥� David Garreis, president of the Maryland Association of Election Officials, said.
An interactive version of the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission鈥檚 legislative redistricting proposal can be found online聽.
