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#keepstmarystogether Call to Action

Many of you have reached out to follow up with questions from my call to action email yesterday. Hopefully the information below will provide clarification on this plan’s impact and assist you in submitting or presenting testimony to the committee on Monday.

The preliminary draft legislative redistricting maps have been released, and it has the potential to drastically alter St. Mary’s County and align us with a more regional approach to State Government. The central area of St. Mary’s County, including lower Mechanicsville and then south through parts of Hollywood, is carved out and aligned with Calvert and Anne Arundel Counties.  

While this might make sense to the nine individuals on the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, it has the potential to greatly impact our St. Mary’s County citizens. Unfortunately, the “traditional” Southern Maryland counties (Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert) did not have representation on this Commission, so it would be difficult for the members to understand the region, our business, and our economic drivers. It is not logical to assume that those residents who have now been placed in a district serving Calvert and Anne Arundel Counties will be better served by our state elected representatives. 

St. Mary’s County has always prided itself on the availability of our elected officials. We can contact them easily and not leave messages on some office answering machine hours away. Our elected officials are approachable and available to our citizens.  

These changes will impact our businesses and citizens since we will no longer have a “cohesive” form of representation. Our constituents and County Commissioners will now have to work with a variety of legislators across this proposed “Southern Maryland Region” to obtain assistance for local government and county issues.  

Everyone complains that the government is slow to act, and this will only add to the length of time it takes to resolve issues for our citizens. I urge you to provide comments or testimony to the Commission at the Virtual Public Hearing on Monday, September 20th. Please feel free to use any of the points contained within this email and expand on them as is necessary and the potential impact on YOU. #keepstmarystogether

For more information on the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, please visit www.redistricting.maryland.gov

If you would like to submit comments or provide testimony at the Virtual Public Hearing on Monday, September 20th, please visit :

Click here to register to provide testimony

Click here to submit a map

You can also submit your comments electronically or send a redistricting question to redistricting.commission@maryland.gov.

Thank you for your engagement on this important issue for our community.

Senator Jack Bailey