Windsor Gets its Own District

With the November 30 deadline hanging over their heads, members of the Connecticut Reapportionment Commission unanimously voted to give Windsor a majority in one of the town's voting districts, Courant.com reported Wednesday.

"This is very important for Windsor," said Mayor Don Trinks. "We have been for it pretty hard since the census came around. Having a majority of a district home-based in Windsor I think will mean a lot to voters in Windsor. 

"I think they'll have a feeling of more control in the capitol. I think they'll feel like their vote is going to matter."

Carved up into pieces in 1981, residents in Windsor have fought to increase the likelihood of having a resident serve in the state legislature.

Prior to Wednesday's vote, Windsor, the 35th largest town in the state, has been split into three legislative districts (15, 60 and 61) shared with Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Granby and Suffield.

Similarly, Windsor is divided into two senatorial districts (2 and 7) that are shared with Hartford, Bloomfield, Suffield, Somers, Granby, Enfield, and East Granby.

Windsor is in the minority in each of its voting districts, essentially holding Windsor residents to the mercy of voters in towns with which its districts are shared.

The bipartisan commission drawing new state Senate and House district lines approved redistricting plans for both chambers of the General Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

The Reapportionment Commission unanimously approved both redistricting proposals, which now must go to the Secretary of the State for her approval before they go into effect. The new districts, if approved by the secretary, would be in place for the 2012 General Assembly election cycle.

The commission, which was facing a deadline today to approve the redistricting proposals, was unable to reach consensus on a plan to redraw Connecticut’s congressional district lines. Under state law, the panel must now ask the Connecticut Supreme Court to give it a 30-day extension to draft and approve a plan.

The 9-member commission began work on redrawing the House and Senate districts in April after it was appointed by the legislature. Connecticut law requires that the districts be studied and, if necessary, their lines be redrawn if necessary, following each federal census. The most recent census was conducted in 2010 and showed that Connecticut’s population grew by nearly 5 percent to about 3.6 million people.

In addition to the large shif that took place in Windsor, 994 people in Groton’s 41st District will be shifted into the 40th District, which is also in Groton. The move, commission members said, was needed to correct an error in the 2010 federal census data, which moved those residents from the 40th to the 41st district.

Commission leaders said the redistricting effort was a daunting task, but a fair and open process devoid of the political shenanigans that often accompany such efforts in other states.

“We didn’t always agree and sometimes things got hot in the room, but this was a fundamentally bipartisan process,” said Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Maps and reports of the commission’s redistricting plans will be available on the panel’s website sometime Thursday, commission staffers said.