(Host) Every 10 years, the Vermont legislature has to match the state’s political boundaries with its changing population.
The process is called reapportionment. And it can be full of political minefields as lawmakers slice and dice the electoral landscape.
As VPR’s John Dillon reports, legislative leaders say their first adage this year is to do no harm.
(Dillon) Redrawing a legislative map is a little like squeezing a balloon. Every change you make has an effect some place else.
Listen to Tom Little. He’s a lawyer and former lawmaker who now chairs the Legislative Apportionment Board.
(Little) "When you make an adjustment in one district, there’s at least one other district bordering it. So in order in that sense to lower the number of people in that district you’ve got to move them some place else. Or, if you’re at the other end of the scale, you need to put people into a district and you’ve got to take them from some place else."
(Dillon) The reapportionment process is required by the state’s constitution.
The idea is to make sure that districts reflect the state’s changing demographics. So if certain towns in Chittenden County, for example, gain population according to the census, they may get another member in the Legislature. But towns that lost population or grew more slowly will likely lose representation at the Statehouse.
The Apportionment Board had the first crack at reconfiguring legislative districts. But the board’s proposal to create more one-member districts met with a chilly reception both among towns and in the Legislature.
The House Government Operations Committee is now drafting its redistricting proposal. And Chairwoman Donna Sweaney says the first goal is to preserve the status quo.
(Sweaney) "If we could keep it as level as possible, that would be a head start on the process. So that’s where we are right now."
(Dillon) Sweaney points out that there are some 30 House districts that need some adjustments – including in Springfield.
This week, the committee worked with its staff on a map and spread sheet that reflects some of the possible changes.
(Sweaney) "It really is a big jigsaw puzzle. As has been pointed out, you could start at one end of the state and come up with one plan and go to the other end of the state and come up with another plan because there’s always some place you come together and it’s like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t fit too well.’ Or some district looks like a long noodle when you get through with it. And that happened 10 years ago. And it will probably happen again this year. But certainly we’re trying to make minimum impact."
(Dillon) Committee members in the House say they’re trying to avoid having two incumbents running against each other for a single seat.
In the Senate, that scenario may play out in the Essex-Orleans district. A shrinking population in the Northeast Kingdom may leave veteran senators Bobby Starr and Vince Illuzzi with only one Senate seat between them.
Windham Democrat Jeannette White chairs the Senate’s special reapportionment committee. Like her counterparts in the House, White says she’s wants to change as little as possible.
(White) "You don’t want to keep making major changes every 10 years, I don’t think. So look at it and see what makes the most sense in terms of making minimal changes, but where we need to."
(Dillon) White says she hasn’t made up her mind on the Essex-Orleans question. Or whether Chittenden County should remain a six-senator district. These and other re-districting dilemmas must be sorted out by the end of the session.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.