Montgomery County Council to Receive Briefing on Proposed Council District Changes Recommended by the Commission on Redistricting Today at 2:30 p.m.

Per Montgomery County:

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Council public hearings on proposed redistricting map will be held on Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. and Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 9, 2021—Today at 2:30 p.m. the Montgomery County Council will receive a briefing from the Commission on Redistricting about their recommended redistricting map that creates seven new Council districts. The commission is responsible for presenting a redistricting plan for Council districts and a report explaining their recommendations to the Council. The eleven-member volunteer commission includes registered Democrats, Republicans, independents and those who are unaffiliated.

The Council created the Commission on Redistricting in Feb. 2021, and the group conducted 12 meetings before completing its work ahead of the Nov. 15, 2021 deadline. Residents can view the commission’s proposed map below and here. The commission’s report to the Council can be viewed here. There are federal, state and county laws governing the approval of voting districts, and these legal requirements are included in the commission’s report.

The Montgomery County Charter, as amended by the voters in the 2020 general election, states that the County shall be divided into seven Council districts. Each district must be compact in form and composed of adjoining, contiguous territory. Moreover, the populations of each district must be substantially equal.

Before 2020, the Charter required the County to be divided into five Council districts. The new requirement for seven districts applies to the 2022 elections, and the Council will consist of eleven members in total in Dec. 2022. Seven district Councilmembers will be selected by registered voters who live in each district and four at-large members will be selected by all voters across the County.

Today, the Council will also introduce Bill 41-21, Elections Council Districts – Boundaries, which is the enabling legislation that would revise the boundaries of the Council districts as recommended by the map proposed by the commission.

The Council’s public hearings on the proposed redistricting map and Bill 41-21 will be held on Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. and Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Residents will be able to sign up for the public hearing on the Council’s web page here. Residents who register for the public hearing must receive a confirmation notification from the Council that they have been added to the speakers list to testify live. This confirmation notification will include the Zoom information.

Those who cannot join the public hearings are encouraged to submit written, audio or video testimony on the Council’s web page here. Residents without internet access can also sign up to testify by phone by calling 240-777-7803. Written testimony can also be mailed to the Council at 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, Md. 20850.

The Montgomery County Charter requires that the Council hold a public hearing after receiving the plan from the commission. If within 90 days after presentation of the commission’s plan no other law reestablishing the boundaries of the Council districts has been enacted, then the plan as submitted becomes law with an effective date of Feb. 1, 2022.

Tuesday’s Council meeting and the public hearings will be held virtually on Zoom and can be viewed live on County Cable Montgomery (Xfinity/RCN Channel 6 or in high definition on Channels 996/1056 and on Verizon Channel 30). The meeting also will be streamed on the Council’s Facebook (MontgomeryCountyMDCouncil) and YouTube (MoCoCouncilMd) pages.

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Image of the map proposed by the Commission on Redistricting