2005 Minnesota Statutes

     2.91 Redistricting plans. 

    Subdivision 1.    Distribution.  Upon enactment of a 
 redistricting plan for the legislature or for Congress, the 
 Legislative Coordinating Commission shall deposit the plan with 
 the secretary of state.  The secretary of state shall provide 
 copies of the relevant portions of the redistricting plan to 
 each county auditor, who shall provide a copy of the relevant 
 portions of the plan to each municipal clerk within the county.  
 The secretary of state, with the cooperation of the commissioner 
 of administration, shall make copies of the plan file, maps, and 
 tables available to the public for the cost of publication.  The 
 revisor of statutes shall code a metes and bounds description of 
 the districts in Minnesota Statutes. 

    Subd. 2.    Corrections.  The legislature intends that a 
 redistricting plan encompass all the territory of this state, 
 that no territory be omitted or duplicated, that all districts 
 consist of convenient contiguous territory substantially equal 
 in population, and that political subdivisions not be divided 
 more than necessary to meet constitutional requirements.  
 Therefore, in implementing a redistricting plan for the 
 legislature or for Congress, the secretary of state, after 
 notifying the Legislative Coordinating Commission and the 
 revisor of statutes, shall order the following corrections: 

    (a) If a territory in this state is not named in the 
 redistricting plan but lies within the boundaries of a district, 
 it is a part of the district within which it lies. 

    (b) If a territory in this state is not named in the 
 redistricting plan but lies between the boundaries of two or 
 more districts, it is a part of the contiguous district having 
 the smallest population. 

    (c) If a territory in this state is assigned in the 
 redistricting plan to two or more districts, it is part of the 
 district having the smallest population. 

    (d) If a territory in this state is assigned to a district 
 that consists of other territory containing a majority of the 
 population of the district but with which it is not contiguous, 
 the territory is a part of the contiguous district having the 
 smallest population. 

    (e) If the description of a district boundary line that 
 divides a political subdivision is ambiguous because a highway, 
 street, railroad track, power transmission line, river, creek, 
 or other physical feature or census block boundary that forms 
 part of the district boundary is omitted or is not properly 
 named or has been changed, or because a compass direction for 
 the boundary line is wrong, the secretary of state shall add or 
 correct the name or compass direction and resolve the ambiguity 
 in favor of creating districts of convenient, contiguous 
 territory of substantially equal population that do not divide 
 political subdivisions more than is necessary to meet 
 constitutional requirements. 

    Subd. 3.    Notice of corrections.  The secretary of 
 state shall provide a copy of each correction order to each 
 affected county auditor, municipal clerk, and candidate. 

    Subd. 4.    Recommendations to legislature.  The 
 secretary of state and the revisor of statutes shall recommend 
 to the legislature any additional technical corrections to the 
 redistricting plan they deem necessary or desirable. 

    HIST: 1994 c 406 s 9; 1994 c 612 s 67