Maine Legislative (and other non-congressional) Redistricting
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  Maine Legislative (and other non-congressional) Redistricting
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Kevinstat
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« on: May 21, 2012, 10:15:05 PM »
« edited: December 29, 2019, 10:49:05 PM by Kevinstat »

From threads I started at the conservative Maine political web site As Maine Goes ( http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/maine-legislative-county-commissioner-city-ward-etc-redistricting-2013-14 ) and the liberal Maine political web site Dirigo Blue ( http://www.dirigoblue.com/2012/02/redistricting-in-maine-everything-but-our-two-congressional-districts-2012-2014/ ).  I've cut out the non-legislative redistricting part but I may add that back in if people express interest in it or comment on some of my posts or links from the other threads.

Links to current districts:
Maine Senate: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/21-A/title21-Asec1203-A.html
Maine House of Representatives: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/21-A/title21-Asec1204-A.html
County commissioner districts: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec66-A.html
Aroostook County Finance Committee districts: towns in those districts with a seat up in 2010 can be found with the 2010 election results ( http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/2010/aroctyfinance.html )
Knox County Budget Committee districts: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec757.html

Links to redistricting provisions:

Maine House of Representatives: Maine Constitution ( http://www.maine.gov/legis/const/ ), Article IV, Part First, Sections 2 and 3 (these sections were each changed a bit under the constitutional amendment adopted in 2011 ( http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_125th/chapters/CONRES1.asp ), but the online Maine Constitution has now been updated to reflect those changes)

Maine Senate: Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part Second, Section 2 (also changed by the 2011 amendment); state Senate redistricting is also affected by Article IV, Part Second, Section 1 regarding the set of possible sizes of the Senate ({31, 33, 35}).

County commissioner districts: Maine Constitution, Article IX, Section 24 25 (a new section added by the 2011 amendment, although largely copied (with the years being changed) from the existing statutory provisions at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec65.html )

All of the above (provisions governing the Apportionment Commission): Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part Third, Section 1-A

Secondary (statutory) reference for Maine House and Senate redistricting: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/21-A/title21-Asec1206-A.html

Aroostook County Finance Committee: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec739.html

Knox County Budget Committee: same place as the current districts

Municipal reapportionment: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec2503.html
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2012, 10:33:30 PM »


Some thoughts of mine about the coming redistricting from an e-mail of mine from September, slightly amended here:

Have you had a chance to look at all at how the numbers crunch for legislative redistricting? I have, and it's interesting. I'm assuming the sole constitutional size of the House will remain at 151 and that the set of constitutional sizes for the Senate will remain at {31,33,35}. Lewiston could be crammed into four House districts averaging 3.99% above the average distict population of 8,797.09 (8,797_14/151). I don't round the average or "ideal" district population to the nearest integer. I think the courts do but I consider using the exact figure (rounding to the nearest tenth or hundredth for display but not in any calculations) to be more accurate, and it's not likely to change whether the 10% population difference (as a percentage of the ideal district population) threshold is met or not, or even which of two competing plans has a lower total or standard deviation. If it did the two plans would be practically equivilent in that respect using either figure. Lewiston is only 3.59% below the ideal Senate district population if there remain 35 State Senators, so that may be an instance of nesting which you know I like. If the size of the Senate was 31 there would probably be a few if not several instances of nesting five House districts to one Senate district, as five House districts averaging 1.31% below the ideal would equal one Senate district at 1.31% above the ideal.

Lewiston could be combined with Auburn as it is now for seven House districts now averaging 3.14% below the average district population. Combining Auburn with either Durham or Minot for three districts is closer to the ideal, though. Auburn plus Durham (with a combined 3.0582/151 of Maine's population) is the closest, and Lisbon whose remainder has been in with Durham since 1984 (it didn't have a whole district from 1974 to 1984) no longer has to be split, while New Glocester plus Durham is 6.74% outside the ideal district population which would be very restrictive as to how much districts could vary on the small side. So the Auburn-Durham combo seems likely, as does Lewiston having an even four House districts and Sabattus and Greene (+4.88%) remaining together. The numbers don't crunch very well for Androscoggin County this time around as far as House redistricting is concerned.

Scarborough is now too big for two districts and, since Cape Elizabeth doen't have to be split anymore and South Portland is too small for three districts (although just barely; it's House district "quota" is 2.8421, up from 2.7625 in 2000), Scarborough (quota 2.1506) and South Portland will probably combine for five districts. [I said at the time that the 20-year Senate district setup with South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and part of Scarborough being in one district could be kept while avoiding a fourth ballot type in general elections (and in each party's primary) for Scarborough while keeping each district within 5% of the ideal (which I consider a good rule of thumb when drawing legislative districts, as you don't know what the populations of other districts are going to be when you start drawing the districts), but re-readng what I wrote I'm not sure and I'm too lazy now to check my math).]

Windham will be able to have two whole districts, and Saco (House quota 2.1009) will probably have a remainder (which would go nicely with Buxton (0.9133)). Bath and Topsham both needed a remainder after the 2000 census, but are now both below the exact ideal district population, Topsham at 0.9985 and Bath at 0.9678. Yarmouth, Caribou and Old Town all fell below 0.95/151 of Maine's population, although Old Town is currently in with most if not all of the population of the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, and those two municipalities combine for a House quota of 0.9605.

In my neck of the woods, Augusta has a House quota of 2.1753, down from 2.1982 in 2000. Estimates leading up to the 2010 census showed Augusta as on the cusp of falling below 2.10/151 of Maine's population and being able to be divided into just two districts, but in the end the city solidly kept its need for a partial third district. The Augusta-Vassalboro-Windsor 3-district combo (with a combined House quota of 2.9613) could be kept, but I've checked using Dave's Redistricting app and Augusta east of the Kennebec River has a quota of 1.0200. It had a quota of 1.0226 in 2000 so the possibility of the east side of Augusta being one district isn't anything new, but it's an interesting possibility. Augusta, Manchester, Hallowell and Farmingdale have a combined House quota of 3.0752, while Vassalboro and China have a combined quota of 0.9853.

My current House district (House District 83), has a deviation of +3.66%, so within range, but I wouldn't mind the district changing. A House district consisting of Hallowell, Manchester and West Gardiner would be 4.12% below the ideal district population. I lived in West Gardiner during elementary and early middle school, and you could probably guess why I'd want Hallowell in my district. Republicans wouldn't like the district as it would be a Democratic leaning one but not a "vote sink" district, but it's not like you can really create a vote sink district around Hallowell anyway. Well, I guess you could have Augusta, Vassalboro and Hallowell have 3 House districts with a combined quota of 2.9393, with [and eastern and western] Augusta district and another snaking across the middle of Augusta, mostly on the west side of the Kennebec, connecting Hallowell to Vassalboro, but that would be really ugly.

I have to get going, but I thought I'd share with you some thoughts I've had on legislative redistricting. There's more, like the three no-municipality split House district combinations including Gardiner being Gardiner-Farmingdale, Gardiner-Pittston, and Gardiner-Richmond, but anyway, I gotto go.
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2012, 10:36:12 PM »
« Edited: May 21, 2012, 10:40:46 PM by Kevinstat »

On State Senate redistricting and how much, or how little, the current Senate districts will need to change:

Senate District 27 [which the person I sent this e-mail to had speculated was in for a big change (and that could certainly happen)] is only 5.99% below the ideal district population. According to the Census Bureau’s figures, which I’ve verified by combining towns for all Senate districts that don’t divide municipalities (and the combined populations of Districts 4 and 5 and Districts 6 through 9 check out), only four Senate districts are more than 5% above the ideal district population, and only four Senate Districts are more than 5% below. The four largest Senate districts are [Senate District 33] (+8.70%), [Senate District 6] (+7.01%), [Senate District 13] (+6.57%) and [Senate District 2] (+6.11%). The four smallest districts are [Senate District 10] (-9.44%), [Senate District 35] (-7.47%), [Senate District 27] (again, -5.99%) and Raye’s (-5.52%). [Senate District 27] borders [Senate District 23], the four-district conglomerate [of Districts 6 through 9, that includes entirely whole municipalities] is only +0.79% (with 4.0314/35 of Maine’s population), [Senate District 2] borders [Senate District 1] (-4.26%), and [Senate District 10] borders [Senate District 11] (+1.81%), which borders [Senate District 12] (+3.65%), which borders [Senate District 13]. I haven’t tried moving towns between those districts, and in Cumberland County you might have to move several towns to avoid unnecessary splits, but the only concentrated area of districts needing more population is in Aroostook and Washington counties, and the combined quota of districts 27 through 35 (Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington Counties plus [Senate District 27]‘s portion of Somerset County and Isle au Haut in Knox County which is connected by ferry only to Stonington in Hancock County) is 8.9146 for 9 districts. Take away the Ellsworth-Bar Harbor, Brewer-Buckport and Bangor districts and you’re at 5.8706 for 6 districts. While I’m sure there will be more changes then necessary, and I think it’s good for redistricting to be an opportunity to have better communities of interest even when the numbers don’t force a change (and yes I know that doesn’t jive with my support of the Democrats’ congressional redistricting plan, but who wants to be consistent?), there wouldn’t have to be as big a change as you may have thought. Population shifts within Maine were a lot smaller in the decade of the 2000s than in the 1990s.
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2012, 03:46:05 PM »
« Edited: November 07, 2012, 03:53:46 PM by Kevinstat »

Post-election bump.

Some initial observations:

There will now be only two state Representatives living in Augusta, both Republicans (and both gains for the GOP; both were open seats, although one of the losing Democrats was a recent state Represntative and perhaps "almost an incumbent"). In the House district partly, but not entirely, in Augusta (House District 57) incumbent Karen D. Foster (R-Aususta) was defeated by Lori Fowle (D-Vassalboro), 45.15% to 54.85%. In neighboring House District 55 (China, Albion, Unity Twp. and most of Benton), incumbent H. David Cotta (R-China) was handily reelected with 59.42% of the vote over challenger Amy E. Slyvester (D-China). But guess what? Cotta, a Republican who was first elected (over a Democratic incumbent!) in 2006 of all years, will be termed out of the House in 2014 when new House and Senate district lines go into effect. And China and Vassalboro could combine for one House district only 1.47% below the ideal district population as of and according to the 2010 census. House District 55 and all three House districts covering Augusta are well within 5% of the ideal district population. House District 54, which includes Winslow and the rest of Benton, is 6.46% below the ideal and will have to gain territory. But House District 55 is only 1.00% below the ideal, and the two districts combined (the smallest conglomerate of districts containing either of those districts consisting of entirely whole municipalities), if population was shifted between them such that they had equal population, would each be only 3.73% below the ideal population for a Maine House district. So some more of Benton could be shifted into the Winslow House district (shifting all of it would make the Winslow district too large and the China-Albion district too small) and no other changes would need to be made to the House districts I have mentioned so far. But the part of Augusta east of the Kennebec River, which has been split for decades, has only 2.00% more people than the ideal House district population. The remainder of Augusta could combine with Farmingdale, Hallowell and Manchester to form two House districts averaging 2.76% above the ideal. Corey Scott Wilson (R-Augusta) who will represent the current House District 56 which straddles the Kennebec River, lives on the east side of the river where a majority of his district is, and Matthew G. Pouliot (R-Augusta), who will represent most of the west side of Augusta in House District 57, lives well away from any of the city limits of Augusta (I met him near his house or apartment last Saturday while I was canvassing for his opponent) and a portion of Augusta big enough to have each district within 5% of the ideal population could easily be drawn on the west side of the river without including his home.

With the 2012 general election behind us, Maine's legislative redistricting is arguably the next big thiing in American politics.  Okay, I'm probably the only person who would argue that, and even I'm not being serious.  But I would very much enjoy others' comments on this.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2012, 01:00:39 AM »

With the 2012 general election behind us, Maine's legislative redistricting is arguably the next big thiing in American politics.  Okay, I'm probably the only person who would argue that, and even I'm not being serious.  But I would very much enjoy others' comments on this.
Who does the redistricting?  In Texas, each house traditionally draws its own map, and then they send it to the other chamber.  When they are ready to pass the other house's map, messengers are stationed at the doors of the two chambers, where they can see both the presiding officer and the door of the other chamber at the other end of the capitol.  The two bills are then simultaneously gaveled.  Each house its own redistricting committee, with their chair typically having great sway.

But Maine doesn't have separate committees for each house does it?  The numbers are similar to Texas: 151 and 35 vs. 150 and 31.  So senate districts can be shifted around but maintain a large share of existing districts.  A partisan gerrymander depends on the party doing the drawing cutting margins on their seats, and packing the opposition.  But an individual legislator doesn't want to risk his own seat, even if for the benefit of the party.  If they are in an accomodating mood, they might be willing to reduce a 62% district to 61%.

But it might be necessary to eliminate house districts in the northeast and replace them in the southwest.  There is a lot more reason to draw knives, and it isn't to cut up the redistricting pie.

I saw on the House roster that there are 3 tribal representatives.  Is there a constitutional or statutory basis for them, or are recognized by legislative rules.  How are they chosen?

The legislature is on its 125th (126th?) session.  I'd expect it to be just short of 100 (2012-1820)/2.   Did it have one-year sessions at one time?
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2012, 10:33:51 PM »

The legislature is on its 125th (126th?) session.  I'd expect it to be just short of 100 (2012-1820)/2.   Did it have one-year sessions at one time?

Yes, until the Legislature elected in 1880.  I think one Legislature before that (in the 1840s or 1850s or around then) was for two years - I forget how that happened.

Your other questions would take longer to answer than I have right now.  I'll just say that Maine has an advisory apportionment commission with both Legislators and non-Legislators, split evenly between the two parties with a mutually agreeable final public member who in practice may always be chosen at it's chair.  Maine also requires a 2/3 vote in each chamber to pass a State House or State Senate redistricting plan (and congressional and county commissioner redistricting from now on thanks to the constitutional amendment adopted last year).

If that doesn't happen by the deadline, June 11th of the redistricting year for Legislative redistricting (the new constitutional sections on congressional and county commissioner redistricting were largerly copied from the existing statutory law and are inconsistent with the Legislative redistricting provisions in some respects and rather messy IMHO), the Maine Supreme Judicial Court draws the lines.  In practive, at least, they will accept submissions, adopt a preliminary plan, hold a public hearing, and then adopt a final plan, but they seem negatively predisposed to any changes from their preliminary plan affecting more than two districts so it's important for parties to have good rationales for their plans in their initial submissions.  The Legislature has in the past made minor changes to the Supreme Court's plan (like in the 1990s after one election after the court had divided small town of Hope among two Senate districts), although that arguably violated the Maine Constitution.

I think the tribal representatives, who can't vote on the House and Senate floor but can speak, are on committees and even have their preferences noted in committtees (but they can't affect what report is deemed the majority report of the committee, and presumably can't affect whether a committee report is unanimous - unanimously favorable committee reports go through an expedited "consent calendar" in the House, although they can be removed from that calendar by a floor motion), are provided for in one or more of the "Private and Special Laws" of the State of Maine (as apposed to the public laws, or Maine Revised Statutes), and also some treaties with the various tribes.  There were only two, representing the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe) until last year (under a law passed in the 2009-2010 session before the Republicans took over; not that they necessarily wouldn't have supported it) when the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, parties to the national Jimmy Carter-era Indian Claims Act along with the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy, were given their own representative.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2012, 11:19:36 PM »

pass a State House or State Senate redistricting plan (and congressional and county commissioner redistricting from now on thanks to the constitutional amendment adopted last year).
They draw county commissioner districts?
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2012, 11:05:36 PM »
« Edited: November 10, 2012, 12:39:48 AM by Kevinstat »

pass a State House or State Senate redistricting plan (and congressional and county commissioner redistricting from now on thanks to the constitutional amendment adopted last year).
They draw county commissioner districts?
Yes, although arguably not until 2021 under the language of the new Section 24 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution ( http://www.maine.gov/legis/const/ ).  In fact, one could argue that, if not for federal equal popution requirements, the county commissioner districts are not to be redrawn again by anyone until 2021.  The county commissioner districts were last drawn were last drawn in 2003 based on the 2000 census, except for in Cumberland and Somerset Counties, where they were drawn last year or the year before based on late 2000s estimates when those boards expanded from 3 to 5 members.  Androscoggin County voters approved a county charter on Tuesday that will expand their board of commissioners from 3 to 7, providing for a redistricting by the Legislature in 2013.  The charter commission wanted to include the redistricting plan in the charter but the Deputy Secretary of State who heads of the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions notified them of that new section and warned that those districts might not be valid ( http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2012/07/26/androscoggin-county-charter-group-backs-districtin/1228927 ).  But the same Article IX, Section 24 that would make that unconstitutional would also seem to make a 2013 redistricting of the county's commissioner districts by the Legislature unconstitutional, especially since the current 3 districts are within the federal 10% de minimis standard (+3.18%; -5.10%; +1.93%).

In practice, at least in 2003, the Apportionment Commission, whose unanimous plan (for county commissioner districts) the Legislature adopted without any division or roll call vote, consulted with all the county commissioners in Maine's 16 counties and that "They, essentially, developed their plan for reapportioning their counties. Those plans were submitted to the Reapportionment Commission and were adopted with minor adjustments where census tracts, or census blocks, were missing or unaccounted for." ( http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/Records/121/vol%201/Pages_0381_to_0395_04-10-03R2.pdf ; see then-Senator Nass's remarks on the left column of page S-391)

Do county commissioners draw their own districts in many states?
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jimrtex
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« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2012, 09:24:34 PM »

Do county commissioners draw their own districts in many states?
They do in Texas.

Each county has 4 county commissioners who represent/oversee a commissioner's precinct, and along with the county judge form the commissioner's court ("court" and "judge" are vestigial roles.  A judicial judge at the county level is a "judge, county court at law".

The commissioners' court has limited legislative or ordinance type authority, in part because much of their territory may be covered by cities.   But they maintain roads, bridges, parks, and libraries outside city limits.

The county sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, county attorney, and county tax assessor-collector have an independent function, though their budget comes from the county.   They are independently elected.

The judge and commissioners (in Harris County) also form the boards for a number of special districts that are coincident with county (hospital district, mosquito control district, flood control district, toll road authority).   So each commissioner sits as a member of a number of boards, but then have direct management authority over parks and streets and roads and libraries in the unincorporated areas of their precincts, as well as community centers.

So a commissioner precinct forms not only an area from which a commissioner is elected (and thus is subject to one man, one vote), but as the domain of its commissioner.

Harris County Commissioner's Precincts

As you can see Texas is covered by the Voting Rights Act.

Precinct 1 is represented by El Franco Lee, who is the first black county commissioner for Harris County (first elected in 1984).  He is reluctant to give up any black areas.  Precinct 2 is an attempt to create a Hispanic district.  It is constrained by a requirement for contiguity, plus having to include the far southeast corner of the county.   It can't

It elected a Hispanic commissioner in 2002 and 2006, but she was defeated in 2010.  If you look at the tables on the left, you will notice the districts are not equal population.  In order to apply equal protection in specific cases, you must have equalish protection in general.

Also while creating a precinct with a 40% HCVAP, you still have 15% HCVAP in the other 3 precincts.
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muon2
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« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2012, 09:28:53 PM »


Do county commissioners draw their own districts in many states?

County board districts in IL are drawn by the county boards themselves. A simple majority vote of the county board is needed to adopt the redistricting ordinance. The same rules apply to redistricting wards in IL cities.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2012, 09:31:57 AM »


Harris County Commissioner's Precincts

As you can see Texas is covered by the Voting Rights Act.

Precinct 1 is represented by El Franco Lee, who is the first black county commissioner for Harris County (first elected in 1984).  He is reluctant to give up any black areas.  Precinct 2 is an attempt to create a Hispanic district.  It is constrained by a requirement for contiguity, plus having to include the far southeast corner of the county.   It can't

It elected a Hispanic commissioner in 2002 and 2006, but she was defeated in 2010.  If you look at the tables on the left, you will notice the districts are not equal population.  In order to apply equal protection in specific cases, you must have equalish protection in general.

Also while creating a precinct with a 40% HCVAP, you still have 15% HCVAP in the other 3 precincts.
This case goes to trial this week.
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2012, 08:41:22 PM »
« Edited: February 02, 2013, 10:59:25 AM by Kevinstat »

GOP Names Maine Apportionment Commission Team (MBPN, 12/12/2012 10:02 AM ET)

Democrats Name Maine Apportionment Commission Team (MBPN, 12/13/2012 04:20 PM ET)

Membership of the 2013 Maine Apportionment Commission, according to the two articles above:

Democrats:
State Sen. Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook County (Allagash)), Assistant Senate Majority Leader
State Sen. (and former House Minority Leader) Emily Cain (D-Penobscot County (Orono))
State Rep. Jeff McCabe (D-Skowhegan), Assistant House Majority Leader
State Rep. Mark Dion (D-Portland)
State Rep. Joan Welsh (D-Rockport)*
Party Chair Ben Grant (D-Portland)^
Former (current?) Oxford County Democrats Chair Cathy Newell (D-somewhere in Oxford County), Democratic Public Member*

Republicans:
State Sen. (and former Assistant House Majority Leader) Andre Cushing III (R-Penobscot County (Hampden))
State Sen. Garrett Mason (R-Androscoggin County (Lisbon))
State Rep. Wayne Parry (R-Arundel)
State Rep. Matthew Pouliot (R-Augusta)
State Rep. Amy Volk (R-Scarborough)
Party Chair-Elect (and former State Rep.) Rich Cebra (R-Naples)*^
Former State House Minority Leader Josh Tardy (R-Newport (unless he's moved since 2010)), Republican Public Member**

Final (presumably non-partisan) Public Member, who will likely serve as Chair:
To Be Determined

*served on the Commission to Reapportion Maine's Congressional Districts in 2011 (all in the same "capacity" except Cebra, who held one of the House Republican spots on the 2011 commission).
**served in the same capacity on the Commission to Reapportion Maine's Congressional Districts in 2011, and served as a House member of the Apportionment Commission in 2003.
^I wouldn't be surprised if both Cebra and Grant end up naming others to serve as their designee on the commission, as happened in 2011 after initial news reports seemed to indicate both party chairs were going to serve on the commission. Grant might name Richard Grandmaison of Lewiston as his designee as he did in 2011. The then-Republican Party Chair's designee in 2011 was Dan Billings, who is now a district court judge. I'd be very surprised if he were on the commission this year due to his position as a judge.

[Originally posted on December 15, 2012. Updated February 2, 2013 to indicate that Republican Party Chair Rich Cebra (then only chair-elect I guess) was a House member of the 2011 commission, but not to add any information that wasn't known at the time.]
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2012, 11:36:23 PM »
« Edited: December 22, 2012, 11:48:00 AM by Kevinstat »

It seems from this press release on the Maine House Republicans web site and either of the two versions of basically the same press release on the Maine House Democrats web site that the party chairs elected or reelected this year (take a wild guess at which party reelected their chairman) will actually serve on the Apportionment Commission.  The Republican press release gives their party chair the same brief bio entry as the other Republican commission members.  Both Democratic press releases just say "The apportionment commission is made up of 15 members, including an equal number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the political party chairs, and three public members, two of whom are appointed by each party and a third that is agreed upon by both."  The Maine Constitution allows the chair of the two major political parties in the state (implicitly the two parties with the most and second-most legislators from other provisions) to name a designee, and that has happened for both parties in 2011, 2003 and at least the Democrats in 1993 (there was a substitution for that position when a new party chair took over).  So I'd say the Democratic party chair is a less of a sure bet to be on the commission than the Republican chair, but he still seems like a likely member at this point.
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Kevinstat
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« Reply #13 on: January 27, 2013, 02:15:20 PM »
« Edited: January 27, 2013, 02:19:30 PM by Kevinstat »

Kennebec Journal

January 24
Augusta prepares to reapportion voting wards

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer


AUGUSTA -- The boundary lines separating the city's voting wards need to be redrawn, which would result in some voters moving to a new ward, without actually moving anywhere.
...
In another ward voting issue, councilors also discussed designating Cony High School as the permanent Ward 4 polling place. The ward has been without a permanent polling place since St. Andrew Church closed....

The November elections were held in the music room at Cony.

Full Story

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Interestingly, I'm pretty sure Cony High School is in Ward 2 (according to this Municipal Street List, South Belfast Ave. (Route 105 from where it separates from Cony Street) is a boundary between Wards 2 and 4 troughout it's length, and Cony High School is south of that which would be the Ward 2 side).  There's no law against that that I'm aware of, however (there may be in some cities or states), and in some instances with odd ward shapes the most convenient voting place for the overall population of a voting district ward might not be in that voting district.  In Auburn, Maine within the last... say 13 years (and perhaps still) I recall two voting districts whose voting locations were in the other of those two districts.  That is odder than the present temorary (and perhaps soon to become permanant) Augusta situation, as the voting place for Ward 2 is the Augusta City Center which is in Ward 2, although the other side of Cony Street from the City Center is in Ward 4.  The other side of South Belfast Ave. from the Cony High School complex is in Ward 4 also.  I'm not sure which location is closer to the ward line but the City Center is closer to the area west of the Kennebec River that is in Ward 2, so it being the Ward 2 polling place rather than Cony High School makes sense.

Also, I've read in the past that the 10% standard is as a percentage of the ideal (average) population per representative, city councillor, whatever, rather than that of either of the two districts being compared, or the smallest district as the article suggests (the deviation would always be larger as a percentage of the smallest district, if only infinitesmally larger).  It probably doesn't make much of a difference in practice, though.
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muon2
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« Reply #14 on: January 27, 2013, 05:51:42 PM »

Kennebec Journal

January 24
Augusta prepares to reapportion voting wards

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer


AUGUSTA -- The boundary lines separating the city's voting wards need to be redrawn, which would result in some voters moving to a new ward, without actually moving anywhere.
...
In another ward voting issue, councilors also discussed designating Cony High School as the permanent Ward 4 polling place. The ward has been without a permanent polling place since St. Andrew Church closed....

The November elections were held in the music room at Cony.

Full Story

-----

Interestingly, I'm pretty sure Cony High School is in Ward 2 (according to this Municipal Street List, South Belfast Ave. (Route 105 from where it separates from Cony Street) is a boundary between Wards 2 and 4 troughout it's length, and Cony High School is south of that which would be the Ward 2 side).  There's no law against that that I'm aware of, however (there may be in some cities or states), and in some instances with odd ward shapes the most convenient voting place for the overall population of a voting district ward might not be in that voting district.  In Auburn, Maine within the last... say 13 years (and perhaps still) I recall two voting districts whose voting locations were in the other of those two districts.  That is odder than the present temorary (and perhaps soon to become permanant) Augusta situation, as the voting place for Ward 2 is the Augusta City Center which is in Ward 2, although the other side of Cony Street from the City Center is in Ward 4.  The other side of South Belfast Ave. from the Cony High School complex is in Ward 4 also.  I'm not sure which location is closer to the ward line but the City Center is closer to the area west of the Kennebec River that is in Ward 2, so it being the Ward 2 polling place rather than Cony High School makes sense.

Also, I've read in the past that the 10% standard is as a percentage of the ideal (average) population per representative, city councillor, whatever, rather than that of either of the two districts being compared, or the smallest district as the article suggests (the deviation would always be larger as a percentage of the smallest district, if only infinitesmally larger).  It probably doesn't make much of a difference in practice, though.

If there's a challenge the most common measure is the range. That is the population difference between the most and least populous districts divided by the ideal district population, then expressed as a percent. Usually there is no challenge to a range under 10% for local districts, though that can vary by state.

Polling places in many states are indeed outside of the voting district. In IL many counties have moved to consolidated polling places that service multiple precincts.
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« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2013, 09:22:22 AM »

Kennebec Journal

...

AUGUSTA -- The boundary lines separating the city's voting wards need to be redrawn, which would result in some voters moving to a new ward, without actually moving anywhere.

...

Also, I've read in the past that the 10% standard is as a percentage of the ideal (average) population per representative, city councillor, whatever, rather than that of either of the two districts being compared, or the smallest district as the article suggests (the deviation would always be larger as a percentage of the smallest district, if only infinitesmally larger).  It probably doesn't make much of a difference in practice, though.
An equality measurement should really take into account the distribution.  Use of the extremes is typically not the best way to measure equality.

In Texas, once a presumption was established that there should be a range of +/- 5%, the distribution of population has gone from being a normal distribution, to a uniform distribution, to a U-shaped distribution clustered around the extremes.  It has gone from aiming towards the center of the target, with arrows within a central ring still counting 10, to defining a limit of how much you can cheat without triggering an audit.

For most practical purposes, it doesn't matter whether you use 10% minimum to maximum range, or +/- 5% deviation from the mean.   In the case of Augusta's 4 wards, if one ward was +7.5%, the other three would have to be exactly -2.5%.   If you actually go to 7.5% you are going to have a hard time justifying it.  If you claim that it was because you wanted to adhere to an arterial street for that district, you will then have to explain why you drew the boundary line through bedrooms to get the others to each be exactly 2.5%.

If you reduced the largest to +6% (which is not much more than +5%), the other 3 have to average -2%.  When splitting out the other 3 wards, at most you can go -2% below the mean for these 3 smaller wards.  The more you go to an extreme, the more you lose in flexibility in the other districts.

If the largest is +5%, the other three must average -1.67%, but you can go 3.33% below this with two of them.

If you use deviation from the mean, you also don't have to decide whether the minimum must be at least 90% of the maximum, the maximum no more than 110% of the minimum, or the difference no more than 10% of the mean.

Augusta might be able to justify a bit larger difference.  For example, if they were able to rigidly use the Kennebec River in a 2/2 split.  +/-5% of the average ward is only +/- 240 which is probably around 5 to 10 blocks of single family homes.  I doubt that there is a political will for a radical restructuring (eg going from a four-corner plan to a 3-in-a-donut plan), even if it made the districts more equal.  People and the councilors have a certain understanding of their neighborhoods.   So I suspect they would just move a boundary or two to make things a bit more equal.  Having the 4 at-large councilors also equalizes some, since everyone gets to vote for 5 members of the council.

It is interesting that North Belfast and South Belfast are essentially parallel.
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« Reply #16 on: February 02, 2013, 09:54:24 AM »
« Edited: February 02, 2013, 05:53:43 PM by Kevinstat »

Finally, some news coverage:

Work begins on redrawing Maine's political districts
(Kennebec Journal (AP article on other web sites also))

Politicians say apportionment "should matter to everyone" (WCSH 6 news story)

-----

The first article above states that Michael Friedman, who was the consensus member and chair of the 2011 "Commission to Reapportion Maine's Congressional Districts", has been chosen to the same two positions on this year's Apportionment Commission as well.  Friedman voted with the Democrats for a majority plan of the commission in 2011, but Republicans who were interviewed following that decision expressed understanding with his decision given that the Democratic plan was closer to the existing plan, while still emphasing that the vote that counted was in the Legislature, where they had a majority in both chambers and there was not yet at that time a state constitutional 2/3 requirement for congressional redistricting.

That article also indicates, although not quite as clearly, that the chairs of the 2 largest political parties in the state will indeed both serve on the commission rather than naming designees as the party chairs at the time did in 2003 and 2011 at least.  So, combining this information with my earlier list of commission members, the membership of the 2013 Maine Apportionment Commission should be as follows:

Democrats:
State Sen. Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook County (Allagash)), Assistant Senate Majority Leader
State Sen. (and former House Minority Leader) Emily Cain (D-Penobscot County (Orono))
State Rep. Jeff McCabe (D-Skowhegan), Assistant House Majority Leader
State Rep. Mark Dion (D-Portland)
State Rep. Joan Welsh (D-Rockport)*
Party Chair Ben Grant (D-Portland)
Former (current?) Oxford County Democrats Chair Cathy Newell (D-somewhere in Oxford County), Democratic Public Member*

Republicans:
State Sen. (and former Assistant House Majority Leader) Andre Cushing III (R-Penobscot County (Hampden))
State Sen. Garrett Mason (R-Androscoggin County (Lisbon))
State Rep. Wayne Parry (R-Arundel)
State Rep. Matthew Pouliot (R-Augusta)
State Rep. Amy Volk (R-Scarborough)
Party Chair (and former State Rep.) Rich Cebra (R-Naples)*
Former State House Minority Leader Josh Tardy (R-Newport (unless he's moved since 2010)), Republican Public Member**

Final Public Member and Chair of the commission
Michael Friedman (Independent-Bangor)*

*served on the Commission to Reapportion Maine's Congressional Districts in 2011 (all in the same "capacity" except Cebra, who held one of the House Republican spots on the 2011 commission).
**served in the same capacity on the Commission to Reapportion Maine's Congressional Districts in 2011, and served as a House member of the Apportionment Commission in 2003.
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« Reply #17 on: February 02, 2013, 11:46:10 AM »

Panel Begins Work to Redraw Maine's House and Senate District Boundaries

02/01/2013   Reported By: A.J. Higgins
...
As the redistricting commissioners gather to draw up some ground rules, Friedman says he already knows that 90 to 95 percent of the redistricting suggestions will be acceptable to members of both parties. For a moment, he wonders aloud if it wouldn't be a more efficient use of the panel's time to concentrate on the districts that both factions already agree are likely to be in dispute.
...

Full story (with link to the audio) (MPBN News)

-----

90 to 95 percent would be 135 to 144 House districts (rounded to the outside on each end of the range) out of 151 (so all but 7 to 16 districts) and 31 to 34 Senate districts out of 35 (or 29 to 32 districts out of 33 or 27 to 30 districts out of 31, so either way all but 1 to 4 Senate districts).  I'm a bit skeptical about that.  If you count the percent of territory proposed districts have in common and add that up you might get up there to start with, but every part of the state is going to be part of a House and Senate district so you'd be starting well above zero in comparing practically any two plans by that measurement.  I know he was being figurative, but that still suggests that the parties have already come up with draft plans covering the entire state, which isn't surprising (they've had almost two years to crunch the numbers) but it does make the lack of much coverage on this issue until now striking.
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« Reply #18 on: February 02, 2013, 01:40:49 PM »
« Edited: February 14, 2015, 09:58:30 PM by Kevinstat »

Augusta might be able to justify a bit larger difference.  For example, if they were able to rigidly use the Kennebec River in a 2/2 split.  +/-5% of the average ward is only +/- 240 which is probably around 5 to 10 blocks of single family homes.  I doubt that there is a political will for a radical restructuring (eg going from a four-corner plan to a 3-in-a-donut plan), even if it made the districts more equal.  People and the councilors have a certain understanding of their neighborhoods.   So I suspect they would just move a boundary or two to make things a bit more equal.  Having the 4 at-large councilors also equalizes some, since everyone gets to vote for 5 members of the council.

53.11% of Augusta's 2010 census population was west of the Kennebec River, so the two west side districts in a 2/2 split along the river would average 6.22% above the ideal ward population, while the two east side districts would average 6.22% below the ideal, for a range of 12.44% (actually 12.46% due to the way the rounding works and the fact that the population on each side of the river is an odd number so the range would be 1 person more than half the difference).  That difference may be slightly decreasing, as the proposed changes (shown below) move the boundary between the "eastern" and "western" 2-ward conglomerates closer to the river.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the part of Augusta east of the Kennebec River could coincide with one state House district (it's 2.00% over the ideal).  The west side of Augusta is 15.53% above the ideal, but there are a couple combinations of towns that would fit well with a remainder carved out of the excess population of that side of Augusta.  Augusta West-Sidney-Belgrade is closer to twice the ideal district population than Augusta West-Hallowell-Farmingdale-Manchester, but that would disturb the existing Waterville-Oakland-Sidney 3 district conglomerate that still works well numbers-wise, although admittedly all three House districts covering Augusta are all within range as well.



Matt Nazar, the city's Acting Director of Development Services, wrote in the e-mail through which he sent me the above map that "The council requested that there be changes made to the proposed boundary change between wards 1 and 3, so this map is not expected to be the final map.  And you are correct, Cony High School is in ward 2, near the boundary between ward 2 and ward 4, but is expected to be the voting location for ward 4."

It is interesting that North Belfast and South Belfast are essentially parallel.

Wow, I hadn't noticed that.  The "extensions" of those two roads (state Route 3 for North Belfast Ave. and state Route 105 for South Belfast Ave., although Route 105 includes multiple road segments once you get to Knox County and Route 3 no longer goes along all of North Belfast in Augusta but begins on I-95 and contains the northernmost bridge that was built about 10 years ago) hit Route 1 along the Maine coast three towns apart (Belfast for Route 3, which keeps going and ends on Mount Desert Island, and Camden for Route 105), and you can see North Belfast Ave. curving off to the north in the northeast of the city.  North Belfast Ave. is a state House district boundary for much of it's course, with the boundary going a few blocks to the north in town (although south of what is Route 3 now (the I-95 bypass didn't exist as of the 2000 census) and jutting off to the south (or more to the east at that point) along Weeks Mills Road to the Windsor line in the far northeast of the city.

Corrected "two towns apart" to "three towns apart" - I'm not sure if I had forgoten about Northport or Lincolnville, or if I was thinking about how Camden and Rockland (where Route 17, the spore below South Belfast Ave. in the above map of Augusta, hits the coast) are two towns apart.
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« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2013, 06:07:51 AM »

Bump.

We're one month and one day from the deadline for the Legislature to pass a plan (by a 2/3 vote in each house) for a State House and State Senate district plan, and less than a month from the deadline for the Apportionment Commission to adopt a plan (and in practice multiple plans have been sent to the Legislature if the parties can't agree, both when one plan has a majority thanks to the tie-breaking member's vote or when there's a 7-7 tie with the neutral member abstaining, as happened with the State Senate redistricting in 2003), and I haven't heard anything in the news since the various fluff articles (largely copies of each other) about the Apportionment Commission getting to work in early February.

I have some knowledge about what the Democrats want to do but I want to be careful not to betray confidences, plus I'm now a minor officer in my county's party committee have been urged to be careful in my online activity.  I actually met with the cheif Democratic Apportionment consultant back in February and had a fun but rather scattered (and that was on me) conversation about various possibilities.  I'm aware of a couple things the guy said the Democrats were hoping to do that are different from what I, jimrtex, muon2 and the Trond would probably consider the obvious thing, but both of those are keeping existing districts (or multi-district conglomerates of whole towns) the same as they currently are.  I cautioned the consultant about what happened in 1993, when the Democrats apparently proposed a plan with much higher population variances than necessary and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court largely adopted the Republican plan as it's preliminary plan.  The then longtime Democratic Speaker of the House actually called one of the Justices on the phone to complain (I read  contemporary editorial online where the Kennebec Journal took him to task for that).  The court that year, after a public hearing, made revisions to the House and Senate plans which adopted some Democratic suggestions but the final plans were still closer to the Republican proposal than the Democratic proposal.  The court was then dominated by McKernan (R)-apported Justices at the time, however, whereas now 4 of the 7 Justices are Baldacci appoities only one is an R-appoitee (the other 2 were appointed to the bench by the current Junior Senator).

I have to get going, but I wanted to give an update and perhaps draw out some further discussion.
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« Reply #20 on: May 15, 2013, 07:09:59 PM »

Funny I bumped this thread when I did.  A public notice (which I just stumbled across yesterday) appeared in the Bangor Daily News the next day announcing that public hearing of the Apportionment Commission has been tentatively scheduled:

MAINE LEGISLATURE
Maine Legislature PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE MAINE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION Public Hearing: Friday, May 24, 2013 1:00 P.M Room 334, State House Pursuant to the Maine Constitution and State Law, the 2013 Legislative Apportionment Commission will conduct a Public Hearing on a plan or plans to align districts for the Maine Senate, Maine House of Representatives and County Commissions according to the 2010 Decennial Census of the United States. Contact: Democratic Office: 287-6211 Republican Office: 287-6278 *Due to the busy nature of the Legislative session, a possible alternate date will be Wednesday, May 29th at 1:00 pm, in Room 334, State House. Please check the Legislative website for updates at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/calendar/. May 11, 2013



Appeared in: BDN Maine on Saturday, 05/11/2013
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jimrtex
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« Reply #21 on: May 15, 2013, 10:44:54 PM »

Funny I bumped this thread when I did.  A public notice (which I just stumbled across yesterday) appeared in the Bangor Daily News the next day announcing that public hearing of the Apportionment Commission has been tentatively scheduled:

MAINE LEGISLATURE
Maine Legislature PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE MAINE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION Public Hearing: Friday, May 24, 2013 1:00 P.M Room 334, State House Pursuant to the Maine Constitution and State Law, the 2013 Legislative Apportionment Commission will conduct a Public Hearing on a plan or plans to align districts for the Maine Senate, Maine House of Representatives and County Commissions according to the 2010 Decennial Census of the United States. Contact: Democratic Office: 287-6211 Republican Office: 287-6278 *Due to the busy nature of the Legislative session, a possible alternate date will be Wednesday, May 29th at 1:00 pm, in Room 334, State House. Please check the Legislative website for updates at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/calendar/. May 11, 2013

Appeared in: BDN Maine on Saturday, 05/11/2013
Are all the hearings in Augusta?
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« Reply #22 on: May 16, 2013, 05:46:06 AM »
« Edited: May 16, 2013, 05:47:44 AM by Kevinstat »

Funny I bumped this thread when I did.  A public notice (which I just stumbled across yesterday) appeared in the Bangor Daily News the next day announcing that public hearing of the Apportionment Commission has been tentatively scheduled:

MAINE LEGISLATURE
Maine Legislature PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE MAINE APPORTIONMENT COMMISSION Public Hearing: Friday, May 24, 2013 1:00 P.M Room 334, State House Pursuant to the Maine Constitution and State Law, the 2013 Legislative Apportionment Commission will conduct a Public Hearing on a plan or plans to align districts for the Maine Senate, Maine House of Representatives and County Commissions according to the 2010 Decennial Census of the United States. Contact: Democratic Office: 287-6211 Republican Office: 287-6278 *Due to the busy nature of the Legislative session, a possible alternate date will be Wednesday, May 29th at 1:00 pm, in Room 334, State House. Please check the Legislative website for updates at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/calendar/. May 11, 2013

Appeared in: BDN Maine on Saturday, 05/11/2013
Are all the hearings in Augusta?
Almost all, and almost all at either the State House or the State Office Building.  Definitely something "minor" like this (as important as redistricting is, it's relatively "inside baseball" - and even more so for non-congressional redistricting).  I think the budget in the past has had various regional hearings.  And hearings expected to be packed, like Gay Marriage in 2009, have been held at the Augusta Civic Center.  It does kind of suck for people up in "The County" (a common nickname for Aroostook County) to have to go down to Augusta to participate in person, but you can mail testimony.  I think I've seen an e-mail printed out in a legislative history (so on the public record) too.
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« Reply #23 on: May 23, 2013, 09:38:02 PM »

The public hearing is going to be tomorrow at 1 p.m.  A member of the Democratic mapping team responded to my post on her wall or timeline on Facebook this morning.  I don't see any media coverage to speak of, and it's still not on the Legislature's online activities calendar.  I imagine some reporters will be there, but perhaps at this point people are looking ahead to the courts drawing the lines.  Or a plan for one or more (or all) of the types of districts to be redrawn is seen as likely be get the necessary 2/3 approval.  Regardless, it doesn't seem like the parties are trying to get out supporters to the event, a stark contrast to the congressional redistricting process in 2011.
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« Reply #24 on: May 27, 2013, 02:58:14 PM »
« Edited: May 30, 2013, 05:23:13 AM by Kevinstat »

Well, it turns out I was the only person besides commission members, party consultants, and staff who went to the public hearing.  There were no reporters in the room, although there were plenty of them just outside and half a floor down (the room where the hearing was in a mezanene between the second and third floors) for a ceremony honoring the last four Maine servicemen to die in Iraq or Afghanistan (one of them died in Kuwait).  It was a little awkward me trying to find a hearing I was running a little late to (although of course it didn't start right on time) and struggling through a throng of people in uniform with my big bertha laptop and computer tray.  I didn't barge through or anything and waited for people in conversation to let me through but I still felt out of place.  Fortuneately the formal event (the military one) hadn't started yet.

Nor had the hearing.  There were maps of the Senate district plans (the two parties had the same plan but with different numbers - the later dialogue suggested that that won't be an issue; probably the tradition of switching from the order of the districts from northern Aroostook to Kittery and back will continue, which means adopting the Republicans set of numbers), inset maps showing the municipal splits (although I didn't see a map for one that I saw in the pamphlet I was given - it was for East Hancock UT, a sprawling chunk of unorganized territory with 94 people that was split three ways (71-18-5 people), but perhaps both splits were along a single state route (perhaps routes 1 and 9) so people didn't think an inset map was necessary) and maps of the proposed county commissioner districts for 15 of Maine's 16 counties (the parties hadn't come to an agreement on Oxford County yet.  There were no House maps shown, as there were still some areas of disagreement there, but a high percantage of districts had been agreed to.

Eight municipalities are shown as split, two of them three ways, but one of the splits didn't split any people (at least as of and accroding to the 2010 census) and I'm not even sure that's accurate (un uninhabited part of Chebeague Island being in a district that includes part of Portland but wasn't shown touching the ocean), the third section of Portland, which is too large for one Senate district but not big enough for two, didn't have any people, and two of the split municipalities (East Hancock UT (the only "genuine" three-way split) and North Penobscot UT) were sprawling rural tracts of territory that not splitting would make for uglier districts than splitting them (North Penobscot UT completely surrounds Millinocket, and stretches from near Lincoln to the northern boaundary of the county.  So there were only four splits, all two-way splits, of incorperated cities or towns that have people in each district and wern't indisputedly required due to that municipality being too large for one Seante District, those four splits being in Berwick, Buxton, Scarborough and Westbrook.  It would be very difficult with 35 Senators not to have as least one split municipality other than Portland in the Greater Portland area, and the Republican presentor, former (1975-1983) Congressman David Emery, explained that due to political considerations that are part of the process there were more splits and a higher population deviation than otherwise necessary, but he clamined that was endeverned to limit the number of split municipalities.  The largest district has 39,805 people (+4.88%) and the smallest district has 36,194 people (-4.64%).  Interestingly, the largest and smallest districts share Buxton between them, and putting more of Buxton in the smaller district could actually flush out a narrow connection there, while the other district could still be quite compact.  That would mean a deeper split of Buxton though (it's now 86.4% to 13.6%).  The deepest split in terms of population besides North Penobscot UT (50.8%-49.2%) and the necessary Portland split (60.1%-39.9%(-0.00%)) is Berwick (68.9%-31.1%).  The shallowest split is Scarborough (87.1%-12.9%).  Keeping the existing split (80.6%-19.4% using 2010 district and municipal population totals and mathematics) would have made the two affected districts each closer to the ideal also (and the smaller portion of Scarbourough is still in with SoPo and the Cape and the larger one is still in a somewhat similar district so it's not like keeping the old split would have looked awkward).  Weird.

My Senate district (I live in Augusta now) and four others don't change at all under this plan, and the district including the two towns I grew up in just gains Readfield (where my high school is located; the 4-5 Maranacook towns depending on whether you count Fayette would now be split three ways rather than 2 though) and loses Litchfield.  The changes were largely small, any my guess is that every current/proposed new district has a majority of it's population in common with a unique proposed new/current district.  I doubt that will be the case for the House districts, whether they're adopted by the Legislature by the necessary 2/3 vote or by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.  Some proposed Senate districts have some significant changes though.

Hopefully a map will be available online soon.  I see one on a Facebook page but it only covers the area around where that person (a state Representative who is on the Apportionment Commission) lives, and I didn't feel like posting a link to the photo on her page and was too lazy to copy it to my gallery (plus I don't have permission; I'm not sure if I need it but as I'm too lazy to copy it anyway that doesn't matter).
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