ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Approximately one out of three Marylanders are registered Republicans, yet only one out of eight congressional leaders are, because of district lines drawn to give Democrats an edge.
With the new census comes new lines, and Governor Larry Hogan’s nonpartisan redistricting commission delivered those to the State House today.
“We want to make sure that the people of Maryland are actually the ones drawing the lines---not the politicians or the party bosses so instead of politicians picking their voters, the citizens will actually get to pick their representatives,” said Hogan.
Three Republicans, three Democrats and three Independents made up the panel, which has worked for months redrawing the lines without carving up cities, counties and communities in the process.
“We were responsive to public reaction and even revamped our maps in the areas of Southeast Baltimore County, St. Mary’s County, the Towson area, southern Montgomery County and others in response to public requests,” said Commission Co-Chair Judge Alexander Williams, Jr.
The governor has called for a special session of the General Assembly to begin on Monday, December 6th, to act on the proposed maps, yet lawmakers have formed a separate commission to come up with their own maps.
“If they choose to blatantly gerrymander again, I would imagine that someone is probably going to challenge it in court and the ultimate decision could be made by the Court of Appeals here in the state,” said Hogan.
The commission held three rounds of public hearings encompassing 36 public meetings with input from 4,000 people.
