October 13th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

Maryland’s redistricting attempts received barely a passing grade from CHARGE, the Coalition Hub for Advancing Redistricting & Grassroots Engagement. The group looked at all 50 states and graded them on several factors related to redistricting including transparency, willingness of decision makers to draw districts based on public input, and nonpartisanship. Maryland’s grade in the report is a “C” and points to partisan gerrymandering, an advisory commission created by the Governor with no power over the legislature and not enough transparency in creating district mapping. Key recommendations are to pass legislation giving the advisory commission a mandate that would allow it to come up with the final maps.