By Peter Callaghan | MinnPost Staff Writer 1. The least change is the best change? In filing the first lawsuit seeking Supreme Court intervention in drawing new congressional and legislative districts last year, Peter Wattson, a redistricting expert and former state Senate staffer, thought the end result would be maps that do just enough to even out population shifts. He was right. Despite calls from one of the intervenors in the lawsuit calling for sweeping changes to boost the political clout of voters of color, the special five-judge panel overseeing the process went small when it redrew lines for Minnesota’s 201 legislative districts and eight congressional districts.…
Author: MinnPost
By Peter Callaghan | MinnPost Staff Writer The Minnesota Legislature is facing an important deadline this week to agree to new legislative and congressional district maps following the 2020 Census. It’s not going to make it. Neither the House nor the Senate is going to even pass their own versions of the maps that will determine a lot about which party controls politics in Minnesota for the next decade. “I don’t anticipate that happening,” said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller when asked whether the Senate would debate maps prior to the statutory Tuesday, Feb. 15, deadline for agreement. While the Senate had…