Sen. Getty to speak
Wed., July 17 2013 in Union Bridge on the impacts of the 2012 redistricting in
the 2014 elections
How Legislative
Redistricting Impacts Carroll County's 2014 Election
Sen. Getty to Speak
at West Carroll GOP Club this Wed.
Marylanders for Joe
Getty
July 15, 2013
I will be speaking this Wednesday at the monthly meeting of
the West Carroll Republican Club about the 2012 cycle of legislative
redistricting and how it impacts Carroll County for the 2014 gubernatorial
election. The meeting begins with dinner at 6 p.m. and program at 7 p.m. at the
Buttersburg Inn (9 N. Main St., Union Bridge, Md. 21791). Dinner is dutch-treat
and the public is invited to attend.
As candidates have been announcing their plans this spring
and summer, I have been increasingly asked about the new districts created as a
result of the 2010 census.
The congressional and state legislative district maps are
available on the Md. Department of Planning redistricting website (click here - scroll to the bottom of the page for the link
to the interactive map). The Carroll County Commissioner districts did not
change and the current map is available on the county board of elections
website (click here).
Reprinted below is a summary of how the 2012 redistricting
process affected the areas of Carroll and Baltimore counties that comprise
Senate District 5:
A RECAP OF REDISTRICTING ON SENATE DISTRICT 5
When representatives of the 13 states met in Philadelphia
during the summer of 1787, they debated a controversial provision to require
that the members of the U.S. House of Representatives would be apportioned by
population. The Maryland delegates to the Constitutional Convention were
opposed to that provision because it would give greater power to the larger
states of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia as compared to the smaller states
such as Delaware and Maryland.
However, that provision for apportionment by population
passed and it became a hallmark of modern democracy in the new federal
government. The first federal census was held in 1790 and has been conducted
every 10 years since for the primary purpose of apportioning each state's
members to the U.S. House of Representatives.
In recent years, the legislative redistricting process has
become confusing to most citizens. In Carroll and Baltimore counties,
redistricting entails new legislative maps at the federal, state and local
level. Every 10 years, these multi-layered legislative districts are redrawn
based upon the results of the U.S. census.
Through much of our state's history, the redistricting
process was less confusing because the county boundaries served as the boundary
lines for state legislative districts. Prior to 1967, every county was
allocated members in the State Senate and the House of Delegates based upon
broad population formulas.
For example, Carroll County was apportioned with one senator
and four delegates whose district was the county boundaries during most of the
20th century.
The use of county boundaries for state legislative districts
was struck down due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1963 of "one-person,
one-vote" in a case known as Baker v. Carr. This ruling affected state
legislative districts throughout the nation.
Maryland went through the transition with the adoption of
new "one-person, one-vote" districts that overlapped county
boundaries with the passage of redistricting plan that took effect in 1967.
From 1967 to 1982, the population of Carroll County was
split between a western district joined with Frederick County and an eastern
district joined with Baltimore County. The majority of population in those two
districts was outside of Carroll County. For that reason, Carroll County did
not have a resident senator for 16 years.
During the 2012 cycle for Maryland redistricting, the
congressional districts were fast-tracked and established by the General
Assembly in a special session held in October 2011and were effective for the
primary election held April 3, 2012.
The state legislative districts were challenged but upheld
in the Court of Appeals and are effective for the gubernatorial election cycle
in 2014.
The Carroll County Commissioner districts saw little
population change and will remain the same. The Baltimore County Council
Districts were slightly amended adopted by the council.
Listed below is a recap of the changes that have occurred in
this redistricting cycle:
Congressional Districts: Maryland retained eight
Congressional Districts with each district containing a population of 721,529.
Carroll County and northern Baltimore County were removed from Cong. Dist. 6
(incumbent, Roscoe Bartlett). Carroll's population was split between Cong.
Dist. 1 (incumbent, Andy Harris) and Cong. Dist. 8 (incumbent, Chris Van
Hollen). Northern Baltimore County was split between Cong. Dist. 1 also and
Cong. Dist. 7 (incumbent, Elijah Cummings). In December, a federal court upheld
the congressional plan adopted by the General Assembly and these districts are
effective for the 2012 election.
Old Cong. Dist. 6: This district was targeted by the
Democrats to pick up a seat and move from a six Democrats to two Republican advantage
to a 7-1 Democrat majority in Congress. The traditional Western Maryland
district was split with Carroll, Baltimore and Harford counties removed
entirely from the district. By shifting 50 percent of the district's population
into Montgomery County, a reliably conservative district was altered to one
that tilts Democrat. The GOP voter registration was 47 percent - it drops to 34
percent in the new district. Democrat registration rises from 36 percent to 44
percent.
New Cong. Dist. 1: Carroll County becomes nine percent of
this district that stretches along the Mason-Dixon Line and encompasses the
entire Eastern Shore. Taneytown, Manchester, Hampstead, Finksburg and environs
become part of Cong. Dist. 1. A strip of Baltimore County stretches along the Mason-Dixon
line about five miles wide to join the district with Harford County and the
Eastern Shore. The voter registration numbers of the new Cong. Dist. 1 are: 42
percent Republican; 41 percent Democrat; and 16 percent decline to affiliate.
New Cong. Dist. 8: The remainder of Carroll County becomes
14 percent of this district which is strongly Democratic with 70 percent of the
district's population in Montgomery County. Voter registration numbers are: 51
percent Democrat; 28 percent Republican and 20 percent decline to affiliate.
State Senate and House of Delegate Districts: Maryland has
47 Senatorial Districts and 141 delegates (there are three delegates for each
Senate District which are apportioned in single member or multi-member
districts). The ideal population will be 122,813 for senatorial districts and
40,938 for single-member delegate districts with an acceptable deviation of +/-
five percent. The governor's proposal was submitted on the opening day of the
2012 Legislative Session and became law Feb. 24.
Net result for
Carroll County: three senators retained and the House Delegation grows from
four to eight members. In Baltimore County, the northern portion that is
currently Delegate Dist. 5B is now split between three senate districts: 10, 42
and 7.
Senate Dist. 5: The entire Senate Dist. 5 (incumbent, Joe
Getty) is shifted to lie within the boundaries of Carroll County. In addition
to the current area in District 5A (Westminster, Hampstead, Manchester and
Finksburg), the proposed district will encompass western Carroll County
(Taneytown, Union Bridge and New Windsor) and southern Carroll County in
Eldersburg down to Md. Rt. 26 (Liberty Road). Three delegates will run at-large
in the new district but four Republican incumbents (Donald Elliott, Nancy
Stocksdale, Susan Krebs and Justin Ready) were drawn into the three-member
district.
Senate Dist. 4: The municipality of Mt. Airy and the
surrounding election precincts will remain in Senate Dist. 4 (incumbent, David
Brinkley), but there will no longer be a single-member delegate district in
Carroll County. The bulk of Senate Dist. 4 will move into Frederick County and
will have three delegates (incumbents Kathy Afzali, Michael Hough and Kelly
Schultz) running at-large in the district.
Senate Dist. 9: In a similar vein, Senate Dist. 9
(incumbent, Allan Kittleman) will still include Sykesville and the surrounding
area of South Carroll, but there will no longer be a single-member delegate
district in Carroll County. Senate Dist. 9 moves farther into Howard County and
the Carroll County portion will be part of a two-member delegate district
(incumbents Gail Bates and Warren Miller) of which the majority of the
population is in Howard County.
Baltimore County Senate Dist. 10, 42 and 7: Most of the
Upperco area is shifted into Senate Dist. 10, which encompasses much of the
western portion of Baltimore County. The new Dist. 42 runs diagonally from the
northwest corner south along I-83 and into Timonium and Cockeysville. This
district offers the best opportunity state-wide for the Republicans to pick up
a seat in the State Senate. On the eastern side of the county, Dist. 7 picks up
population at the northern and southern edge of the county boundary for a
district that is principally in Harford County.
Carroll County - County Commissioner Redistricting: The
districts for the Carroll County Commissioners will remain the same. There were
no significant population shifts in Carroll County over the last decade and the
existing districts remain within the acceptable plus-or-minus five percent
range.
Baltimore County Council: The County Council completed the
task of redistricting the seven council districts with the adoption of Bill
59-11 Oct. 3, 2011. Northern Baltimore County remains in Council Dist. 3. The
councilmanic boundaries established by the bill become effective for the next
election of council members in 2014.
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Authority: Marylanders for Joe Getty, Sharon Prajzner,
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*****
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