Redistricting in Massachusetts after the 2010 census

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| Note: Redistricting takes place every 10 years after completion of the United States Census. The information here pertains to the 2010 redistricting process. For information on more recent redistricting developments, see this article.

|

Redistricting in Massachusetts

General information
Partisan control:
Democrat
Process:
Legislative Authority
Deadline:
Before 2012 Election
Total seats
Congress:

State Senate:

State House:
160

This article details the timeline of redistricting events in Massachusetts following the 2010 census. It also provides contextual information about the redistricting process and census information.

The 2010 Census resulted in Massachusetts losing one Congressional seat after a decade of population growth below the national average.

## Contents

* 1 Process
* 1.1 Public input
* 2 Leadership
* 2.1 2011
* 3 Census results
* 3.1 City/county population changes
* 4 Congressional redistrictring
* 4.1 October 2011: Olver announces retirement
* 4.2 November 2011: Map released and passed
* 4.3 November 2011: Map signed
* 5 Legislative redistricting
* 5.1 June 2011: Latino-majority district proposal
* 5.2 October 2011: Draft released
* 6 History
* 6.1 Deviation from Ideal Districts
* 7 See also
* 8 External links
* 9 Footnotes

## Process[edit]

See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures

During the 2010 redistricting cycle, the Massachusetts State Legislature had jurisdiction over state and Congressional redistricting.

The Massachusetts Constitution provided authority to the Massachusetts General Court for redistricting in Section 2 of Article Cl.

### Public input[edit]

A total of 13 public hearings across the state were planned. Additionally, redistricting authorities planned an interactive website for citizens.[1][2] The hearings were scheduled to be completed by June, 2011, at which point the map-drawing process would begin. This redistricting process was the first time in Massachusetts history that the public had contact with the redistricting committee on the Internet.[2]

Video from all 13 meetings were made available online.[3]

Thirteen meetings were held. Those dates were:[4]

* March 16, 2011 at Gardner Auditorium
* March 26, 2011 at Van Sickle Middle School
* April 11, 2011 at Clark University
* May 2, 2011 at Massasoit Community College
* May 14, 2011 at Joseph Lee Elementary School
* May 16, 2011 at New Bedford Public Library
* May 31, 2011 at Greenfield Community College
* June 6, 2011 at Quincy High School
* June 11, 2011 at Pittsfield City Hall
* June 13, 2011 at Lawrence High School
* June 18, 2011 at Framingham State University
* June 20, 2011 at Lynn City Hall
* June 27, 2011 at Cape Cod Community College

## Leadership[edit]

### 2011[edit]

Stanley Rosenberg (D) led the Senate redistricting process. Representative Michael Moran (Massachusetts) (D) oversaw House efforts.[5]

On February 10, 2011, the Senate voted 32-4 to create a 28-member committee to be charged with redistricting. The committee would be made up of 28 legislators -- 23 Democrats and 5 Republicans. The bill moved to the House for approval.[6]

On March 2, the House passed the legislation to establish the redistricting committee. The vote was 121-31.[7] The vote was along party lines, with all Republican members voting against the legislation.[8] Concurrently, House members defeated a Republican-sponsored amendment to establish a redistricting commission.[9]

In mid-March the official committee was named, consisting of 28 total members.[10] "Looking at the map, clearly they were gerrymandered to help specific legislators. The committee's goal is to rectify that situation," said Brad Hill (R), a member of the redistricting committee.[11]

The 2011 special joint committee on redistricting had 7 senators and 21 representatives on the committee. The members were:

Senate Members:

Sen. Stanley Rosenberg Senate Chair
Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz Senate Vice chair
Sen. Barry Finegold
Sen. Karen Spilka
Sen. James Timilty
Sen. Daniel Wolf
Sen. Bruce Tarr

House Members:
Rep. Michael Moran (Massachusetts) House Chair
Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera House Vice chair
Rep. Byron Rushing
Rep. Antonio Cabral
Rep. Joseph Wagner
Rep. Vincent Pedone
Rep. Stephen Kulik
Rep. Demetrius Atsalis
Rep. Garrett Bradley
Rep. Patricia Haddad

Rep. Anne Gobi
Rep. Alice Peisch
Rep. John Keenan
Rep. Linda Forry
Rep. Christopher Speranzo
Rep. Sean Garballey
Rep. Marcos Devers
Rep. Bradley Jones, Jr.
Rep. Bradford Hill
Rep. Elizabeth Poirier
Rep. Paul Frost

|
|

On March 16, the Joint Redistricting Committee held its first official meeting at the State House.[12] The schedule for public hearings and new website were unveiled.[13] The committee heard testimony from legal experts on redistricting laws.[14] "It’s no secret ... that those of us on the Republican side wanted to use a process other than the one that has been laid out. But the process that has been laid out today and going forward is different than the process that has been used in the past, and I would say different in a positive way," said Bradley Jones, Jr. (R), a member of the committee.[15]

## Census results[edit]

The population in the Bay State increased 3.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, bringing the state's population to 6,547,629. The increase was below the national average of 9.7 percent.[16] Massachusetts lost one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, falling from 10 to nine as a result of the census data.[17] Each new redrawn Congressional district needed to have approximately 727,514 constituents.[18]

At the end of July 2011, the redistricting committee received new precinct population data from the Secretary of State. There were 2,151 precincts with an average of 3,043 residents per precinct.[19]

### City/county population changes[edit]

Massachusetts received its population counts on March 22, 2011. These tables show the change in population in the five largest cities and counties in Massachusetts from 2000-2010.[20]

| Top Five most populous cities

City  | 2000 Population  | 2010 Population  | Percent change
Boston  | 589,141  | 617,594  | 4.8%
Worcester  | 172,648  | 181,045  | 4.9%
Springfield  | 152,082  | 153,060  | 0.6%
Lowell  | 105,167  | 106,519  | 1.3%
Cambridge  | 101,355  | 105,162  | 3.8%
|  | Top Five most populous counties

County  | 2000 Population  | 2010 Population  | Percent Change
Middlesex  | 1,465,396  | 1,503,085  | 2.6%
Worcester  | 750,963  | 798,552  | 6.3%
Essex  | 723,419  | 743,159  | 2.7%
Suffolk  | 689,807  | 722,023  | 4.7%
Norfolk  | 650,308  | 670,850  | 3.2%

## Congressional redistrictring[edit]

### October 2011: Olver announces retirement[edit]

On October 26, 2011, Rep. John Olver announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his term in 2012. His announcement ended months of speculation over which two incumbents would be paired into one district.[21]

### November 2011: Map released and passed[edit]

On November 7, 2011, state legislative leaders released the draft map for the nine U.S. House districts in Massachusetts. The new map put incumbent Stephen Lynch (D) and Bill Keating (D) into one district along the coast. Keating, who had a second home in Cape Cod, said he would move to that house in order to avoid a primary race with Lynch. That district was drawn with no current incumbent, setting the stage for all nine current incumbents to safely run for re-election in 2012. The new map also had the state's first majority-minority district, then represented by Michael Capuano (D).[22]

On November 10, the map passed out of committee and was set for a final vote on November 15.[23] The state Senate approved the Congressional map by a vote of 31-6. The state House approved the map with a 122-29 vote.[24] Republicans had proposed an alternate map during floor debates but the amendments were defeated on a party-line vote.[25]

### November 2011: Map signed[edit]

On November 21, 2011, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signed the new map into law.[26]

## Legislative redistricting[edit]

### June 2011: Latino-majority district proposal[edit]

At the June 13, 2011, redistricting committee hearing in Lawrence, a citizens group offered a proposal to legislators that would create additional Latino majority-minority districts in the Massachusetts General Court. The Dominican American National Roundtable offered a version of the maps that would alter the districts then held by Sens. Barry Finegold (D) and Steven Baddour (D). The proposal would have moved Lawrence from Finegold's district to Baddour's. The two House district proposals would have created two Lawrence-based districts each with more than 70 percent of the population composed of Latino voters. At the time, Lawrence had the highest Latino population as a percentage of the total of any New England city.[27]

### October 2011: Draft released[edit]

On October 18, 2011, the state legislature released draft state Senate and state House maps. Among the changes in the proposed maps were:

* The new maps would increase the number of minority-majority districts in the state Senate from two to three and from 10 to 20 in the state House.[28]
* The 10th Suffolk District, 14th Suffolk District, and 15th Suffolk District juggled some voting precincts. Those three districts were represented by Edward Coppinger (D), Angelo Scaccia (D) and Jeffrey Sanchez (D), respectively.[29]
* Bradley Jones, Jr. (R) would represent all of Lynnfield, assuming a part of a district occupied by Donald Wong (R).[30]
* Two freshmen Democrats and two freshmen Republicans would be put into districts that would have created likely primaries between incumbents. Paul Mark (D) and Gailanne Cariddi (D) would be placed in one district while Jim Lyons (R) and Paul Adams (R) would be placed into the 18th Essex District. Adams and Mark said they intend to move before the November 6 residency deadline in order to qualify for incumbent-free districts in Berkshire and Essex counties.[31]
* State Senator Patricia Jehlen (D) would no longer represent all of Winchester. Half of the town would be added to a district represented by Katherine Clark (D).[32]
* The town of Lexington would be consolidated into one House district. Under the previous plan, it was split between Tom Stanley (D) and Jay Kaufman (D). Under the proposed map, all of Lexington would be in the 15th Middlesex District represented by Kaufman.[33]

## History[edit]

#### Deviation from Ideal Districts[edit]

2000 Population Deviation[34]

Office  | Percentage
Congressional Districts  | 0.29%
State House Districts  | 9.68%
State Senate Districts  | 9.33%
Under federal law, districts may vary from an Ideal District by up to 10%, though the lowest number achievable is preferred. Ideal Districts are computed through simple division of the number of seats for any office into the population at the time of the Census.

## See also[edit]

* State Legislative and Congressional Redistricting after the 2010 Census
* State-by-state redistricting procedures

## External links[edit]

* Official Redistricting Website

* Massachusetts Redistricting Calendar
* Redistricting Historical Maps

* Fair Districts Massachusetts

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Wicked Local Stoneham, "Redistricting overseers planning sitdowns with delegation members," February 4, 2011
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wicked Local Amesbury, "Moran is the state's redistricting czar," January 24, 2011
3. ↑ Framingham Patch, "State Held Informational Meeting on Redistricting," March 24, 2011
4. ↑ Massachusetts Redistricting Calendar
5. ↑ WBUR "Massachusetts Pols Brace for Redistricting Battles," December 5, 2010
6. ↑ Beacon Hill Roll Call, "Senate approves redistricting commission," February 11, 2011
7. ↑ ABC 6 "Mass. House nixes independent redistricting panel," March 2, 2011
8. ↑ Boston Herald, "Mass. House nixes independent redistricting panel," March 2, 2011
9. ↑ News Telegram, "Redistricting panel rejected," March 2, 2011
10. ↑ The Sun Chronicle, "Poirier named to redistricting panel," March 16, 2011
11. ↑ Gloucester Times, "Cape Ann politicos to redraw districts," March 8, 2011
12. ↑ Boston Herald, "Redistricting panel to begin work," March 16, 2011
13. ↑ Boston Globe, "Committee holds first redistricting hearing," March 16, 2011
14. ↑ WWLP 22 News, "Lawmakers launch redistricting process," March 16, 2011 (dead link)
15. ↑ Boston Herald, "Lawmakers launch Mass. redistricting process," March 16, 2011
16. ↑ Belmont Citizen-Herald, "Census preparing to deliver redistricting data to states," January 13, 2011
17. ↑ Boston Globe, "Legislative redistricting may be a tough task," December 23, 2010
18. ↑ Boston Globe, "Census begins fight on districts," March 23, 2011
19. ↑ Boston Globe, "New precincts lines aid Mass. redistricting effort," July 29, 2011 (dead link)
20. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Massachusetts' 2010 Census Population Totals, Including First Look at Race and Hispanic Origin Data for Legislative Redistricting ," March 22, 2011
21. ↑ Politico, "Olver's exit averts intraparty fight," October 26, 2011
22. ↑ Boston Globe, "Keating to move from Quincy to Cape, due to redistricting map," November 8, 2011
23. ↑ Boston Globe, "New Mass. congressional map clears another hurdle," November 10, 2011
24. ↑ Enterprise News, "Senate OKs Congressional redistricting map that separates coastal towns," November 16, 2011
25. ↑ Boston Globe, "Mass. lawmakers vote on new congressional map," November 15, 2011
26. ↑ Boston Globe, "Gov. Patrick signs congressional redistricting map," November 21, 2011
27. ↑ Eagle Tribune, "Proposal would create Latino-heavy legislative districts — and make targets out of Baddour and Finegold," June 26, 2011
28. ↑ Mass Live, "Massachusetts legislators release maps of proposed new seats for state Senate, House," October 18, 2011
29. ↑ West Roxbury Patch, "10th Suffolk District Swaps One West Roxbury Precinct for Roslindale Precinct in Redistricting ," October 18, 2011 (dead link)
30. ↑ Lynnfield Patch, "Jones to Represent Entire Town of Lynnfield ," October 18, 2011
31. ↑ Wicked Local West Bridgewater, "STATE HOUSE NEWS: Two Reps say they'll move, run in new districts rather than face colleagues," October 19, 2011
32. ↑ Winchester Patch, "Half of Winchester Could Get New State Senator ," October 20, 2011
33. ↑ Wicked Local Winchester, "Redrawn legislative map makes Lexington one House district," October 19, 2011
34. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, “Redistricting 2000 Population Deviation Table”," accessed February 1, 2011

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