Redistricting Lines Should be Finalized in Sept 2011

Members of the Massachusetts Special Joint Committee on Redistricting held a public forum at Framingham State University on Saturday, June 18 to update residents on the redistricting process.

The meeting was the eleventh conducted thus far. Similar events have taken place across the state to bring the public up to speed on the issue of redistricting and to get feedback from constituents. The next scheduled event will take place at 6 p.m. on June 27 at Cape Cod Community College.

The issue at hand is that based on the results of the 2010 U.S. Census, Massachusetts has grown slower than other states and therefor will lose one of its 10 Congressional seats, according to the committee's Web site.

"Following the results of the Census conducted last year, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation must be reduced from ten seats to nine and the district lines for State Representative, State Senator and Governor’s Council seats must be redrawn to make sure that each district remains proportionate," explained State Senator Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, a member of the committee.

What the committee must decide by the next state election is how to change the district map. This is a difficult process because each region of the state has an interest in keeping its representation in the U.S. Congress.

Committee chairman Stanley Rosenberg explains in a letter posted on his Web site: "On paper, the committee's task looks relatively simple: We must draw a map that leaves each of the state's 40 senators with a district of about 164,000 people; each of the state's 160 representatives with a district of about 41,000 people; and nine Congressional districts each with as close to 727,514 people as reasonably possible," he wrote. "All this must be done in time for the 2012 elections."

Rosenberg continued: "The committee will work hard to configure districts in such a way so that voters will have a fair opportunity to elect Congressional and state representatives and state senators of their choice."

The meeting on Saturday concluded with the committee leaders said new redistricting lines should be in effect by September 2011.