Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Thursday, waded into the heated national debate over how to draw congressional boundaries, appointing a commission to explore ways to strip that power from elected leaders, even as the Democrats who control the state legislature vowed to resist.
Hogan said he was creating an 11-member panel to recommend a new process for determining the lines of the state’s eight congressional seats. All but one are held by Democrats, thanks in part to boundaries drawn after the 2010 Census that diluted the power of some conservative-leaning counties by dividing them into multiple congressional districts.
Hogan acknowledged that the manipulation of boundaries, also known as gerrymandering, is not particular to either major political party. He encouraged Democrats and Republicans in other states and at the federal level to take steps to make redistricting more fair.
Hogan said he would instruct the commission to draft an amendment to Maryland’s constitution that would give redistricting authority to a nonpartisan, independent panel. Such a proposal would have to be approved by the General Assembly, where Democrats hold a strong majority in both chambers, before it could appear on the 2016 ballot for a final decision by Maryland voters.
“Fair elections and a healthy and strong, competitive two-party system have been nearly impossible in our state,” Hogan said. “Gerrymandering is a form of political subterfuge that stifles real political debate and deprives citizens of meaningful choices.”
Leading Democrats said they were loath to change Maryland’s redistricting procedures unless other states did the same. Currently, both the governor and the state legislature play a role in drawing Maryland’s congressional districts.
Noting that redrawn districts could jeopardize the seats of several of Maryland’s Democratic members of Congress, state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said the legislature would be more likely to pass a resolution asking Congress to approve a national redistricting law.
The U.S. Constitution gives states the power to determine the shape of their congressional districts and the Supreme Court recently approved them.
In recent years, Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, and Washington have created citizen panels to draw voting lines. Some states established their panels through legislation, followed by ballot initiatives. The changes in Arizona and California took place through voter-initiated ballot measures.
The governor named three Democrats, three Republicans and one independent to the commission, and asked the majority and minority leader of each legislative chamber to each appoint one more. Hogan’s appointees include a mix of policy experts and representatives from advocacy groups. Retired U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. and Walter Olson, a senior fellow with the libertarian Cato Institute, will co-chair the panel, which must produce recommendations by December for how to draw the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts and the 47 General Assembly districts.
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) is breaking with other Democrats again over redistricting, saying she’s open to an independent commission proposed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R).
“I have long supported redistricting reforms to end the damage partisan gerrymandering does to our democracy,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to reviewing Governor Hogan’s announcement to see whether it is truly independent of partisan politics.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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