The Connecticut General Assembly’s Reapportionment Committee heard from members of the public in Norwich on Thursday to get input on the redistricting process.

The state and U.S. constitutions require redistricting every 10 years based on federal census data. “In a 1964 case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause requires that districts have about equal populations so that everyone’s vote has equal importance (i.e., the ‘one person, one vote’ doctrine),” the 2021 Redistricting Project webpage reads.

In Connecticut, that process determines how many people belong to the 151 state House districts, the 36 state Senate districts and the five U.S. House districts. That comes out to almost 24,000 people per state House district, around 100,000 per state Senate district and about 720,000 people for U.S. House districts.

On Thursday afternoon at Norwich City Hall, state Rep. Greg Haddad, D-Mansfield, and state Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, the cochairs of the committee, spoke about the state’s efforts to get the public more involved in redrawing districts than in years past. They highlighted websites including districtbuilder.org, districtr.org and davesredistricting.org that allow people to combine mapping tools with census data online to formulate new maps, and encouraged residents to submit their own maps for state review.

The committee has been tasked with redrawing congressional and General Assembly districts by Sept. 15. That work will not be done by then, so a new commission, composed of eight legislators who will choose a ninth member together, will look to make a new map by Nov. 30. If the commission can’t meet that deadline, the state Supreme Court steps in.

While the committee’s plan would be subject to General Assembly approval, the commission’s isn’t. The state Supreme Court can either compel the commission to complete its task or draw the district boundaries itself.

Five people testified Thursday in front of about 30 attendees, including state Sens. Doug McCrory, Kelly and Paul Formica, as well as state Reps. Tammy Exum, Haddad and Vincent Candelora at Norwich City Hall.

Kimberly Blake, who spoke as part of the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, said holding public hearings are a good start but most people are not aware of this issue, and “more needs to be done.”

She said there should be follow-up from the committee to explain how it comes to its decisions. “What are the criteria for the new maps based on 2020 census data? How will population changes affect Congressional District 2, which geographically is the largest district in the state?”

Blake said she appreciates what seems like a fair and nonpartisan process but, she argued, redistricting “should be carried out by a committee of citizens who are not beholden to politicians in any way.”

Dave Nowakowski focused on smaller towns. “Being from Lisbon, I think one of the goals of the committee should be that small towns with 5,000 (residents) or so should be prevented from splitting into multiple districts,” he said. “Rather than having two representatives, it feels like you have no representatives because you’re just part of the other towns that are wholly represented.”

President of the League of Women Voters of Southeast Connecticut Irene Weiss also offered comment. She agreed with Blake, saying, “I think it would be so interesting for the public to know what you’re taking into account when you make these decisions.” She echoed Nowakowski, too, saying specific reasoning for why a municipality is broken up between districts should be made public and analyzed.

Joann Merolla-Martin told the committee that when she was the Democratic registrar in Norwich, the city had to redistrict its polling locations “to make them more equitable and have some cost savings without impacting voters too much.” The city went from 10 polling locations to five.

“At the time we had the 46th Assembly District and the 139th. In 2010 we had an additional assembly district, the 47th,” she continued. “We went from fairly equitable and good for voters and not so expensive ... to adding a polling location in the 47th Assembly District.”

She asked the lawmakers to keep local election administration in mind when making decisions. 

Formica, R-East Lyme, said the redistricting process is being rushed because census data didn’t become available until months later than usual. “We didn’t get much help from the feds,” he said. Kelly, R-Stratford, said he expects the commission to finish redistricting before the Nov. 30 deadline and before the state Supreme Court would get involved.

Formica noted that the nature of the committee is “one of the only opportunities for true bipartisanship where negotiation is around equal representation for both parties.”

“That being said, every caucus has got people looking at maps to try to figure out how to wrangle an advantage here,” he added. “I wouldn’t be truthful if I told you that’s not happening.”

Formica pointed to a population shift away from eastern Connecticut “and down into the southwest corner. That’s going to squeeze some districts a little tighter.”

The 2nd Congressional District, a seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, has a population of about 700,000 and may change during the redistricting process.

New London County is among the 52% of counties nationwide that saw a decrease in population from 2010 to 2020 and, like the rest of the United States, became more racially diverse, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau in April released statewide data showing that Connecticut's population increased 0.9% over the decade to 3,605,944 residents, and later released more localized data that will be used for redistricting. The state isn't losing or gaining any congressional seats, but the new data will impact borders for congressional and state legislative districts.

The committee will hold two more public hearings: on Sept. 13 in Shelton, and Sept. 14 virtually via Zoom.

s.spinella@theday.com