Parties have still not seen each other’s submissions of N.J. congressional map

Members of the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission are back for their second day, but have still not traded maps, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

The tiebreaker, former Supreme Court Justice John E. Wallace, Jr., has largely kept Democratic and Republican members apart.  He’s met with both sides separately to discuss their initial submissions.

The panel, which will redraw the state’s twelve House districts for the 2022 mid-term elections to reflect the results of the 2020 U.S. Census, had just a brief face-to-face meeting on Wednesday at the hotel in Cherry Hill that has become the base of operations.

It could still be several hours before the full 13-member commission – six members of each party, plus Wallace, who was named as the tiebreaking member by the New Jersey Supreme Court over the summer – meet together.

There is no clear timetable as to when the two parties will see the first map submitted by the other side.

Republicans met with Wallace nearly two weeks ago and submitted the first draft of their maps, but Wallace didn’t see the Democratic map until Wednesday morning.

The commission is obligated to certify a map by January 18, but Wallace has told both sides he’d like to see a finished map before the end of next week.