Question 4
Understanding Election Day’s ballot
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
When voters go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8, they will be faced with four referendum questions of statewide significance.
Question Four asks voters “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the years of redistricting the Maine Legislature, congressional districts and county commissioner districts after 2013 from 2023 and every 10th year thereafter to 2021 and every 10th year thereafter?”
Maine’s constitution currently provides that legislative districts must be reapportioned based on census data every 10 years, starting in 1983, according to information from the Office of the Maine Attorney General.
Currently, redistricting occurs in the third year after the federal 10-year census (which was last completed in 2010). The next census data will be collected in 2020. The proposed amendment would move the year of redistricting up to the first year following the census. Redistricting based on the 2020 federal census would occur in 2021, rather than 2023, and every 10 years thereafter and would require a two-thirds vote for passage.
A “yes” vote on Question Four would make it so redistricting would occur for the Legislature that convenes in 2013 and also for the Legislature that convenes in 2021 and every 10th year thereafter.
A “no” vote on Question Four would reject moving the timeline for redistricting, leaving it in its current format.
Aside from the state legislative redistricting, the referendum would also include redistricting of the County Commissioners districts and congressional districts.
Redistricting was an issue discussed at great length during the last Legislative session. The final map proposal, which has little impact to Aroostook County, passed through the House of Representatives by a vote of 140-3, and the Maine Senate by a vote of 35-0. The chief sponsor of the bill was State Rep. Dennis Keschl of Belgrade. Gov. Paul LePage signed the redistricting bill into law on Sept. 28.
Two of Maine’s largest newspapers, The Bangor Daily News and The Journal Tribune commented on the proposal in editorials. The Journal Tribune stated in an Oct. 22 editorial, “Hopefully passage of this bill will keep the process from degrading into threats from party members, and affirm the people of Maine are being accurately represented at all levels of government.”
The Bangor Daily News editorial, which ran on Oct. 24, urged a “yes” vote on Question four. “Question 4 is a rarity in referendum history in that its approval would facilitate a better way to resolve an inherently political conundrum. It does so by leveraging better cooperation between the parties. A ‘yes’ vote will spare us all the angst of watching the next redistricting process, which is something like watching a divorcing couple fight over the family dog.”
