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Elections officials and advocates press committee for draft maps, shapefiles and clearer public information
Summary
Election administrators and transparency advocates told the Reapportionment Committee that the commission should publish draft maps, provide shapefiles and plain-language materials so local officials and the public can review and implement new district lines effectively.
Election administrators and transparency advocates used the hearing to press the committee and the succeeding commission for more technical detail and public-facing materials.
Timothy DeCarlo, registrar of voters for Waterbury and representing the Registrar of Voters Association of Connecticut, said detailed technical deliverables are essential for election operations. "We would like to recommend a simple solution that the 2021 redistricting plan include precise details of addresses and or locations where the district line should end and begin," DeCarlo said, adding that registrars rely on shapefiles and that not all towns have Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. He warned that converting lines into the state's centralized voting system (the CBRS system) is a manual and time-consuming process without precise geographic data.
Advocacy groups echoed the request for transparency. Jennifer Dayton, vice president of advocacy for the League of Women Voters of Greenwich, said because the committee did not present draft maps before the hearings, the commission should present draft maps during a Zoom hearing and provide "a robust website for public information" so citizens can examine plans and provide meaningful feedback. Nina Jarrell of the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford urged the use of nonpartisan commissions and better public resources (plain-language summaries and user-friendly websites) to reduce the risk of partisan outcomes.
Public commenters and academics also suggested third-party tools for public engagement: committee members and witnesses pointed to Dave's Redistricting (davesredistricting.org) and other web platforms as ways for citizens to draw and submit maps.
What happens next: Committee co-chairs and staff said all written testimony and submitted maps will be part of the public record the nine-member commission will inherit. Registrars asked the commission to include shapefiles and precise boundary descriptions in its final products to ease implementation.
