New Jersey Prepares to Release New Legislative Map in Test of Latino Strength

By Elizabeth Llorente

Published April 02, 2011

Using the 2010 Census results to redraw legislative districts, New Jersey Hispanics and legislators debate whether to concentrate minority voters in a few districts, or spread them over many.

Latinos are nearly 20 percent of New Jersey’s population, but a mere six percent of the state legislature.

This weekend, that playing field may change for Hispanics, or stay the same -- for at least a decade.

That is when an 11-member commission working on redrawing the state’s legislative districts is expected to decide on the new legislative map. The commission is made up of five Democrats, five Republicans, and a neutral tie-breaker, in this case a professor from Rutgers University.

The process, which usually is contentious in New Jersey and elsewhere, is being particularly closely watched by Hispanics, who say that they have been ill-served by redistricting efforts in the past.

“In 2001 we had six Latinos in the Assembly, in 2011 we have six Latinos in the Assembly,â€