14th Norfolk District
Fourteenth Norfolk District
Consisting of:
Wellesley
Weston
Wayland: Precinct 4
The 14th Norfolk District, which I represent, will be dropping Precinct 4 in Wayland and picking up a Precinct in Lincoln. This is not uncommon given shifts in population through the Commonwealth. I will continue to represent the entire towns of Wellesley and Weston.
Redistricting
The U.S. Constitution requires that each legislative district have approximately the same population: each federal district within a state, each state district within a state and each local district within its jurisdiction must have about the same number of people. Every 10 years, these lines must be adjusted based on the population numbers of the most recent US Census. It is the responsibility of the legislature to draw the lines for federal and state districts while municipalities adjust local district lines, eg city council districts.
State law ties the drawing of state legislative lines/ districts to the Census. The Massachusetts Constitution states that the federal census shall be the basis for determining the representative districts, senatorial districts and also the councillor districts.
The legislature composed the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting in early 2021. The Committee was charged with studying and proposing new lines for our 9 Congressional districts, 40 Senatorial, 160 state representative and 8 Councilor districts. The Committee held a number of region-specific hearings and public comment opportunities, consulted with various legal experts and community leaders to ensure that the new districts were constitutional sound. The House and Senate voted to accept the Committee' recommendations with minor changes and Governor Baker signed the new districts into law in the fall.
More specifics of the redistricting process & the Special Joint Committee can be found here:
