The state’s Reapportionment Commission is asking for more time to draw legislative and congressional voting districts.
The bipartisan nine-member commission took over after the General Assembly failed to approve a plan in September. It was scheduled to have a three-part proposal by Nov. 30. But as the commission missed its deadline, it asked for an additional three weeks to get the job done.
“For lack of a better term, the clock is running out on us, and what we’d like to do is just ask the Supreme Court if we could have a few more weeks to continue the work that we commenced,” said the commission’s co-chair, Republican state Sen. Kevin Kelly.
The commission has already unanimously approved state House and Senate maps with most changes in Fairfield County, where the state saw the biggest population shift — an increase of more than 40,000 people, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.
Redistricting happens once-in-a-decade and mostly relies on census data to map out new voting districts with equal populations. The release of last year’s data was delayed about four months due to the pandemic and states are seeing the effects.
“Given these unprecedented times, it’s caused us to have a very truncated process,” Republican state Rep. Vincent Candelora said during a virtual 7-minute meeting Tuesday in which the commission voted unanimously to ask for an extension. “This situation is a little bit unique in that we haven’t had the time to put the effort in to negotiate in good faith a congressional map.”
So far 25 states across the country have finalized proposals, according to Politico’s redistricting tracker. It’s not the first time Connecticut has been behind. The state’s 2011 Reapportionment Commission also asked for an extension to finalize congressional districts, which determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The commission aims to have a plan by Dec. 21. Now it awaits an extension approval from the state Supreme Court. If plans aren’t finalized by the suggested extension, the court can choose to redraw districts itself, as it did in 2011.
