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I’d have to check the map I drew using “Dave’s Redistring App” (you can Google it), which I can’t see on my cell phone. Using 2010 Census data and 2008 presidential election results by precinct, the Ann Arundel- based CD could afford to drop its most heavily Democrat precincts up north. I’ll see if I can find my file tomorrow. Of course, with PG’s black population spreading to the entire county, maybe those Democrat Ann Arundel precicts would have to stay in the GOP-leaning Western Shore CD to get the population up to 12.5% of MD’s 2020 Census population.

In 2012, Republicans in Maryland got the required number of signatures to petition to have the new legislative map go to referendum. They won this battle only to lose the battle of how to word the ballot initiative. The law required the districts to be approximately the same in number and contiguous. Some districts are connected by miles on a single road. Here is the ballot initiative:

Question 5 Referendum Petition (Ch. 1 of the 2011 Special Session) Congressional Districting Plan

Establishes the boundaries for the State’s eight United States Congressional Districts based on recent census figures, as required by the United States Constitution.

For the Referred Law

Against the Referred Law

Who would vote against this plan? After all, it is in accord withthe US Constitution. If there had been a map next to the words or if the local Baltimore Sun had published a picture of the legislative map, it would have been defeated. Very few people understood what was being described. Most people would like to be in a district with their own community and those near it, the exact opposite of this map.