City of Cambridge considers realignment of election districts, officials say move creates balance

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – “Is each ward having 2,600 residents and being exactly the same more important than minimizing the boundary readjustment to keep things as similar as they are today?” Carroll said.

Cambridge Town Manager Tom Carroll said that’s the decision they’re up against as the city is considering a realignment of its five election districts. “They should be compact as possible and have some logical connection between them. You also want them to contiguous and you don’t want gerrymandering,” Carroll said.

Commission President Lajan Cephas represents Ward 2, an area historically dominated by non-white residents. She told 47ABC that realigning the districts will help reflect the actual demographics of the city.

Cephas added that non-white residents make up 80% of Ward 2, yet those same residents actually on make up around 62% of the city’s total population. “We’re still struggling with this and making it a black and white issue because the wards are still black and white. I think that is the only way to correct this is to build a true community so that when one area is hurting everyone is coming to the table to try and correct it,” Cephas said.

Cephas also said the move could bring more balance and transparency to the city’s election process. “There isn’t going to be any privileges and there’s not going to be any automatic wins. You’re going to have to get out there, talk to the people, and become a servant of the community,” Cephas said.

A seven member Ward Realignment Committee was formed with appointments from both the mayor and city commissioners who will be tasked with coming up with recommendations. “You have a real interesting opportunity to really hash those issues out and make a recommendation to the city commissioners on how to best approach alignment of these new wards,” Carroll said.

That committee will hold its first meeting next Wednesday, September 7th. They’ll have until the end of October to have recommendations for the commissioners.

Once the commissioners receive and approve those recommendations the legislative process will start, which would include an amendment to the city charter.

We’re also told having the map set and geographic boundaries determined early will be important to civic engagement and education of the voters and those looking to run for office ahead of next year’s election.