“In the old days, you had to have 51 percent to constitute a majority minority district,” Gerken said. “The question is, can you have a district that is less than 50 percent minority that still allows minorities to elect their candidate of choice.”
Every 10 years, with the release of Census data, redistricting occurs—and redistricting controversies arise.
The question of the Voting Rights Act’s extent is a major one in this year’s batch of redistricting, according to Gerken.
“Every decade, there’s a whole new set of suits and a whole new set of questions,” she said.
The state Senate may vote on the redistricting today, according to Smith. The legislation faces a Nov. 5 deadline, to ensure next year’s candidates will have one year to live in their new districts.
The complaint was sent to Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham ’72, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, Acting Governor Jane M. Swift and Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin. If the House-passed redistricting becomes law, the complaint will likely become a lawsuit within a month.
—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.