http://www.carrollcounty.com/articles/2007/10/25/news/local_news/newsstory2.txt

New districting map offered

By Beth Ward, Times Staff Writer

October 25, 2007 

A new Carroll County districting map consisting of four county commissioners elected by district and one elected at large is on the table following an informal meeting of the state delegation Wednesday.

Del. Donald Elliott, R-District 4, presented the map as a compromise of the two maps considered before the 2006 legislative session.

The map the delegation chose to move forward with failed in session.

Rather than five separate districts in earlier maps, the proposal establishes four districts that follow current election district lines with a few changes.

In order to have even population numbers, there was some modification in the northern district, said Sen. Allan Kittleman, R-District 9.

A fifth commissioner would be elected at large and would serve as commission president, Elliott said.

The Department of Legislative Services drafted the map, and the proposal was modeled after Charles County’s government, Elliott said.

One of the complaints the delegation heard with the previous map was that residents would lose their three at-large votes.

With the new map, residents would have two votes as opposed to one, Elliott said.

Kittleman said each of the districts established is representative of the larger county demographics.

Within Carroll County, there are about 41,000 registered Republicans, about 30,000 registered Democrats and about 9,000 registered Independents, according to information provided at the meeting.

A similar ratio can be found in the districts, Kittleman said.

“This seems like a proposal we could get consensus on and not have the fights we had a few years ago,” Kittleman said.

The delegation decided to draft a bill that would then go to public hearing. Based on public opinion, the delegation would decide the next step.

Sen. Larry Haines, R-District 5, said he would not support the proposal.

“My position has always been if you have five commissioners, voters should be able to vote for all five,” Haines said.

Haines said the new proposal is a change from what was voted on in 2004 referendum, which had five districts. With the change, the Senate delegation chairman said the map should go back for another referendum.

Commissioner Michael Zimmer, who attended the meeting, said the delegation would need to consider whether the new map is too different from what voters chose in 2004.

“I’ll be interested in seeing the public comment,” he said.

Westminster resident Jim Harris, who was involved in the court case following the 2006 session, said he had not had time to evaluate the new proposal, but it is a big change from what was decided before.

“It’s not what I worked for and everyone else worked for,” he said.

Elliott said a public hearing would probably not take place until January.