Following recommendations from a county-appointed Redistricting Committee, the Calvert County Board of Commissioners have voted to move forward with expanding  from three to five election districts.

In June 2o11, the Board of Commissioners appointed representatives to the Calvert County Redistricting Committee, tasked to gather public feedback on the state of the current county districts. The results and recommendations were presented to the Board last Tuesday and included:

• Calvert County changes from the current three Election Districts to five Election Districts.
• Remove the language “At-large” and insert “Countywide.”
• Candidates for the office of County Commission run Countywide, be elected Countywide (one from each Election District), and meet all residency requirements.

The Calvert County Recorder reports:

According to survey results, 45 percent of respondents favored no change in election districts, while a combined total of 50 percent indicated that they wish to see more districts, whether it be four (18 percent) or five (32 percent). In addition, 64 percent preferred to see the president of the BOCC continue to be elected annually by the board.

Each of the commissioners present said they were impressed with the committee’s work, and Commissioner Steve Weems (R) admitted, “I’ve stated publicly that at the culmination of the election it finally dawned on me just exactly how the process worked. … There is some confusion with the present system. I like the recommendation” to increase to five election districts.

To read full coverage of Redistricting Committee’s recommendation, follow this link.