Just in time for Election Day 2022! Come see the behind-the-scenes story of the redistricting of Cambridge, which Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin has publicly stated was "the biggest mess in the Massachusetts redistricting process". The City of Cambridge GIS team supports the Cambridge Election Commission in creating new wards and precincts after each decennial US Census. In addition to the usual challenge of creating new precincts with a 12.6% increase in population since the 2010 Census, Cambridge and all other local and State governments had to overcome a late release of the US Census data due to the pandemic and other factors, with no corresponding change in the final deadline. This left the GIS and electoral staff a fraction of the usual time to complete the public redistricting process.
This presentation looks at this tumultuous turn of events, navigating both local and State politics, and the GIS effort behind the scenes to come up with an acceptable final precinct map to be used in the next 10 years of Cambridge elections.
