Shapiro Letter and Maps J,

K, and L

STEPHEN M. SHAPIRO n 5111 Westridge Rd., Bethesda, Maryland 20816 (301) 229-6241; SteveS@md.net

November 8, 2021

Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission

Maryland General Assembly

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Re: Final Submission of Congressional Maps J, K, and L

Dear Chairman Aro:

I appreciate having the opportunity to have testified before the Legislative Redistricting

Advisory Commission last Friday at Shady Grove. I hope you and the other members

found it useful.

Many of the other comments offered last Friday reinforced my thoughts that as many

Marylanders as possible should be comfortable in their assigned districts. That end is

supported by placing precincts and census blocks in districts consistent with their

partisan leaning. In this regard, I disagree with Governor Hogan—who has stated that

voting history should not be considered in redistricting. While such considerations can

be abused, they nevertheless can and should have a proper role in the process.

With that in mind, I have further refined my prior maps into three final offerings for the

Commission’s consideration:

• All three of these maps slightly even out the portions of Howard, Montgomery,

and Prince George’s Counties in District 3. This required moving 6,000 residents

in District 6 from Baltimore Co. to western Howard Co. District 3 as now

proposed includes 298,000 residents from Howard Co., 273,000 from Montgomery

Co., and 201,000 from Prince George’s Co. No one county is dominant.

• Districts 1 and 6 in Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties now contain as many

precincts as possible that have a Democratic voting history near or under 30

percent.

o Map J splits District 1 between Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties.

While this option captures the greatest number of strongly Republican

precincts within District 1, many of these precincts have contiguity only

over water. In several Baltimore County peninsulas, this results in the

outermost portion being in District 1, with the remainder in District 7.

District 7 in eastern Baltimore Co. focuses on the many precincts there

with large black populations.

2

o District 1 in maps K and L maintains contiguity over land (including

bridge crossings). This makes it counterproductive to split portions of

District 1 between both Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties because

many residents of politically moderate precincts (e.g., the Broadneck

Peninsula near the Bay Bridge) must be included in order to maintain such

land or bridge contiguity. This would allow for fewer very conservative

precincts to be included in District 1 if that district is split between the two

counties while maintaining such higher contiguity. Map K puts all 55,000

District 1 residents (outside of Harford & Cecil Co. and the Eastern Shore)

into Anne Arundel Co. Map L places them all in Baltimore Co.

I recommend either Map K or Map L in light of their greater contiguity in District 1.

While having districts with contiguity only over water would be nothing new in

Maryland (such as in the current map), the greater area cohesion afforded by such

contiguity seems worth the cost, if any, of placing some highly conservative precincts

within Districts 2 and 7 (instead of in Districts 1 and 6).

I hope the Commission finds this helpful. I look forward to seeing one or more

prospective maps offered by the Commission for public comment next week.

Best regards,

/s/

Stephen M. Shapiro