AUGUSTA – Information about newly apportioned congressional and legislative districts is available online and by request from the state’s Elections Division.
Written boundary descriptions of Maine’s two congressional and 186 legislative districts, along with a copy of the apportionment plans and an overview of the apportionment process, can be found at http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/apport/apport.htm, or by calling 624-7650.
Copies of individual district maps are available in paper form by contacting the Elections Division. They will be added to the Web site later this month. Large maps outlining the entire state’s congressional and legislative districts are also expected to be available in the coming weeks.
“Apportionment of voting districts is important to our democratic form of government,” said Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky. “It helps to ensure equality of representation.”
He added that municipal officials and candidates for public office, as well as political party officials and the general public need apportionment information to carry out their respective roles in the electoral process.
Apportionment, also known as redistricting, is the process of creating voting districts for the purpose of organizing elections. Because a state’s population can grow, shrink or shift, voting districts are adjusted or redrawn every 10 years in Maine.
In general, the purpose is to ensure that all districts contain approximately the same number of people, so all citizens have equal representation in government.
As a result of this new apportionment for the 2004 elections, every district for the Maine House of Representatives will have about 8,443 residents. Each district for the state Senate will have approximately 36,426 residents. Maine’s two Congressional districts will each have about 637,462 residents.
In keeping with statutory requirements, the secretary of state has provided the applicable maps and district boundary descriptions to municipal clerks, so they may revise their voting lists and prepare to conduct elections using the new districts.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.