League of Women Voters of Connecticut

As reported by Angela Carter in the New Haven Register, "the state’s Reapportionment Committee Tuesday heard requests ranging from consolidating or expanding voting districts, to ending gerrymandering and creating districts where Latinos would be the electorate’s majority."
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"Elona Vaisnys, a board member for the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, urged the committee to hold another hearing once there are proposals for changes to district boundaries, so citizens can provide feedback and get explanations for any proposed changes.  She also said the league believes districts should be contiguous and compact. 'We hope that prisoners will be counted in the districts where they live permanently,' Vaisnys said."

Read the full article here.

Nancy Burton of the Greenwich Patch covered LWVCT's remarks at a hearing in Norwalk City Hall of the state Legislature's Reapportionment Committee, which will propose boundary changes for Connecticut's congressional and state House and Senate seats.  Area residents asked that their community concerns trump politics.

The president of the 2,000-member nonpartisan League of Women Voters reminded the six legislators who convened the hearing of the legal requirements of the Voting Rights Act ("one person, one vote") and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"The Acts have potential to conflict with partisan objectives," cautioned LWV president Cheryl Dunson of Greenwich. "Districts can be drawn to give some people more voting power than others."

"District lines can be drawn in an infinite number of ways," Dunson said, "and how they are drawn can affect who is elected."

Read the full article here:  Redistricting Complaints: Incumbents Protected, Communities Split.

At least once per decade - usually after the Census - Congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn.

This is necessary because people move, families grow and Federal and State laws require it.  Districts are adjusted to ensure that each district has about the same number of people and, as a result, each person has an equal say in the government, as required by the Constitution (One Person, One Vote).

The League of Women Voters supports apportionment of congressional districts and elective legislative bodies based substantially on population.  (LWVUS Impact on Issues 2010-2012)

Redistricting is not straightforward because there is more at play than the size of the population.  Have you ever looked at the shape of your district and wondered how it got that way? Even with equal populations, districts can be drawn to give some people more voting power than others.  Redistricting can determine who wins an election.  District lines can be drawn in an infinite number of ways, and how they are drawn can effect who is elected. We like to think that voters choose their representatives, but in redistricting, politicians often get to choose their voters.