Majority-Black districts can be drawn (52% and 54% black). by Indivisible Towson member F. Mullally
Baltimore County Wants Fair Maps
Indivisible Towson is a progressive, non-partisan grassroots organization that has drawn over 600 members from — as we like to say — the County seat to the County line. We work with allies like ACLU-Maryland, the Baltimore County and Randallstown chapters of NAACP, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County, and like-minded individuals on behalf of responsive and accountable government, and for democracy and the Constitutional rights of every individual — including the right to representative government.
The report of the Baltimore County Council Redistricting Commission is distressing for many reasons, a number of which described in the letter sent to . Very concerning to many members of Indivisible Towson were the tone-deaf comments of some Commissioners, and their apparent dismissal of public input. It’s very hard to discern any consideration given by the Commission to the 106 pages of written testimony and the hours of in-person testimony provided by the public.
The credibility of the Commission’s Report and its recommended map is further undermined by its failure to follow its own guidelines — including that it “not give rise to a claim of ‘vote dilution’.” Clearly, and rightly, the Commission’s proposed map — if it stays in its current form — is on its way to Court.
The Redistricting Report claims that “demographic concentration” and the “limitations created by the geography and physical shape of Baltimore County” preclude creating two Majority Black districts.
This is not true. ACLU/NAACP offered one possible map that does exactly that. Independently, two Indivisible Towson members — a data scientist and a lawyer — also managed to do so, coming up with yet another alternative. So it seems fair to conclude that, in fact, additional options might also be found. Why the Council-appointed Redistricting Commissioners couldn’t do so is very puzzling.
Redistricting is Baltimore County’s opportunity:
· to fairly reflect our growing and diversifying population
· to put voters’ interests first, and
· to help ensure we, the voters, can choose our elected representatives, not the other way around.
Monday, October 11, 2021 marked the first national celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Baltimore County seat was built on the ancestral lands of the Susquehannock, the Nanticoke, and the Piscataway - the ancient tribal caretakers of the place we now call Towson. In acknowledging their suffering at the hands of colonial forces, we should also recall that parts of the Towson area were made prosperous by enslaved Africans; and that Indigenous and African peoples were the original victims of systemic and systematic racism in the United States.
We must change the dynamic of racism in our drawing of election boundaries.
We must — in this decennial redistricting process — make sure we get fair maps that allow the growing populations of Baltimore County’s minority voters to have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
I urge the Council to consider the comments and criticisms of those who oppose the Redistricting Commission Report, including ACLU-Maryland and the local chapters of the NAACP, and to go back to the drawing board.
I also ask the Council to plan for more than the single, required Council meeting on Redistricting — one is not enough. They should announce their meeting schedule to the public as soon as possible.
We can and must do better.