In Our Opinion: The Redistricting Rundown

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No matter what district, in what state, in what year you are talking, the issue of redistricting can stir up strong feelings for some members of a community. Specifically for eastern Baltimore County, the drastic changes made to Legislative Districts 6 and 7 after the 2000 Census drew outrage among members of the Dundalk, Essex and Middle River communities. Between the years of 1992 and 2002, Essex had been grouped with Middle River and areas of northeastern Baltimore County north of Perry Hall in District 6. Dundalk was largely by itself (for the purposes of this article, "Dundalk" includes Sparrows Point, Edgemere and Millers Island) in District 7. After the 2002 redistricting plan, Dundalk had become District 6 and acquired Essex while Middle River and its former points north became District 7. Similarly, after the most recent redistricting process, District 6 remained almost completely unchanged while District 7 acquired territory farther north up to the Pennsylvania state line, as well as on both sides of the Harford County line. It is widely accepted that legislative districts should have a similar makeup. Respect should also be given to both natural and political boundaries. Considering that, it has been expressed by some community members that this most recent redistricting session would have been a perfect opportunity to return Districts 6 and 7 to shapes more closely resembling those prior to 2002. One can certainly make a case for it; however, those common sentiments aren't all that go into drawing those lines. As Del. Pat McDonough (R-7) put it, "It's all a numbers game." Article 3, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution states, "Each legislative district shall consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form and of substantially equal population." In other words, there is an average, "ideal" number set forth, based on the total population of the state, governing how many people should live in each district when the lines are drawn. Recognizing that populations cannot always be exactly equal between districts, the law allows for a certain percentage deviation between them. However, that exact percentage is not specified in the code. Given that the populations of Essex and Middle River have increased over the past 10 years, it would not make sense to put them back in the same district since there would be an uneven population distribution with other districts. Also, looking at the social and political characteristics of the two districts, Dundalk and Essex are completely represented by Democrats and have a similar population makeup to each other. Middle River and the other areas of District 7 tend to be slightly more conservative and are entirely represented by Republicans. While geographically Middle River may have more in common with Essex, socially and politically they are a good fit with the rest of their district. So next time you feel the districts may be unjustified, remember, the top deciding factors are the demographic similarities, not geographic ones. Editor's Note: If you feel strongly about this issue, contact your legislators to voice your opinion. Visit http://mlis.state.md.us.