Bill > SCR26

Introduced Session

This constitutional amendment would provide that, in establishing legislative districts, the Apportionment Commission, while giving due consideration to all other applicable constitutional principles, must establish districts that promote competition between the two major political parties. The goal of the commission is to establish districts such that candidates of the political party receiving the majority of the votes Statewide for each House of the Legislature will be elected to the majority of the seats in the respective House. The commission is required to establish as many competitive districts as possible. A "competitive district" is one in which no political party is favored to win election by more than 10 percentage points. To determine whether a political party is favored to win election by more than 10 percentage points, the commission will use the vote totals of the last two gubernatorial elections in those municipalities comprising an established district as a proxy for actual vote totals in order to estimate the likely results in future legislative elections for each newly established district. The Supreme Court will have original jurisdiction to directly hear a challenge brought by any registered voter on the grounds that the districts drawn by the commission do not sufficiently promote competition. To be successful, any such challenge must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that it is possible to establish more competitive districts than the number established by the commission and those districts are more likely to result in members of the party that receives the most votes Statewide for members of each House constituting a majority in the respective House. If the challenge is successful, the Court will order that the districts proposed by the challenger replace the districts established by the commission. The amendment provides that a "major political party" is a political party whose candidates received the largest number or the second largest number of votes in the most recent gubernatorial election in this State. In addition, the amendment provides that new districts will be established in the next odd-numbered year after the amendment becomes a part of the Constitution and thereafter at the ten-year intervals provided by the Constitution.

Committee Categories

Jon Bramnick (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document