For Immediate Release: Thursday, November 12, 2020
Deadline Extended to Tuesday, November 17 at 5 p.m.
ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 12, 2020—The Montgomery County Council is seeking applicants for the County’s 11-member Commission on Redistricting. The positions must be filled by February 1, 2021. The deadline to apply for consideration is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.
The Montgomery County Charter, as amended by the voters in the 2020 general election, states that the County shall be divided into seven Council districts for the purpose of nominating and electing seven members of the Council. Each district shall be compact in form and be composed of adjoining territory. Prior to the recent election, the Charter required the County to be divided into five Council districts. The new requirement for seven districts will apply to the 2022 election, and the Council will consist of eleven members, with four at-large members.
The Charter also requires that the Council shall appoint a Commission on Redistricting. The Commission shall be composed of 11 registered voters who reside in the County. The Commission shall include at least one but no more than four members of each political party which polled at least 15 percent of the total vote cast for all candidates for the Council in the last preceding regular election. As a result of the 2018 General Election, there are two parties recognized by the State of Maryland: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. At least one member of the Commission shall reside in each Council district. The commission shall, at its first meeting, select one of its members to serve as its chair. No person who holds any elected office shall be eligible for appointment to the Commission.
By November 15, 2021, the Commission shall present a plan of Council districts, together with a report explaining the plan to the Council. Within 30 days after receiving the plan, the Council shall hold a public hearing on it. If within 90 days after presentation of the Commission’s plan no other law re-establishing the boundaries of the Council districts has been enacted, then the plan, as submitted, shall become law.
Letters expressing interest, along with a resume no longer than four pages in length, in a position on the Commission on Redistricting must be emailed to County.Council@MontgomeryCountyMD.gov or received in the Office of the Montgomery County Council, 100 Maryland Avenue, 4th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850, no later than 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. It is the Council’s policy not to consider applications received after the deadline.
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