The Calvert County Commissioners took the first steps toward redistricting Tuesday, establishing a Redistricting Committee and appointing five of the nine members. The other four members will be appointed by the Democratic and Republican Central Committees, and the League of Women Voters, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People local chapters.
In setting the panel, the commissioners used the 2002 redistricting committee as a model, adding the LWV and NAACP representation to make the total of nine. Inclusion of the extra members came at the suggestion of Commissioner Jerry Clark (R-1st).
Redistricting is considered every ten years following the national census, even though the commissioners, even those representing a particular district, have always run at large.
That is not required, however. In some counties, commissioners are elected from districts with none running at large. Others use a mix, with some elected from districts and the rest at large. A past redistricting in Calvert resulted in the number of commissioners increasing from three to the present five. That number could increase again — or not.
Commissioner President Susan Shaw (R-2nd) didn’t want the committee’s charter limited solely to drawing lines for the current three election districts. While the commissioners have boundary-setting power, changing the number of election districts would require state legislation. The county staff was instructed to “look at the process to allow for up to five districts.”
Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt (R-3rd) noted that “redistricting can easily get too partisan with comments like ‘Elections have consequences’ being made. It’s no secret that we all are from one political party, but we represent all the people of Calvert County.”
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