§ 1–1041.02. Report of ward task forces.

(a)(1) Each ward task force shall submit a report to the Council not later than 90 days after approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto) of legislation that reapportions the boundaries of the election wards pursuant to § 1-1011.01.

(2) The Mayor and the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics (“Board”) shall provide each ward task force with technical and analytical services necessary for decennial redistricting, including, but not limited to, statistical and demographic analysis of official census data and production of computerized election district maps.

(3) The Mayor and the Board shall make available to the public, at cost, copies of the census data base and any maps to be used for redistricting in hard copy or machine readable form.

(b) The report submitted by a ward task force shall contain:

(1) Alternative recommendations for the adjustment of the boundaries of Advisory Neighborhood Commission area and single-member districts for that ward; and

(2) Other recommendations with respect to the operation of advisory neighborhood commissions.

(c) In developing its report, each ward task force shall comply with the requirements of this section and the requirements of § 1-309.03.

(d) The total District population and the population of defined sub-units of the District population as determined by the federal decennial census, or any official adjustment to the federal decennial census, shall be the exclusive permissible population data for apportionment of single-member districts.

(e) No redistricting plan or proposed amendment to a redistricting plan shall result in district populations with a deviation range greater than 10% or a relative deviation greater than plus-or-minus 5%, unless the deviation results from the limitations of census geography or from the promotion of a rational public policy, including, but not limited to, respect for the political geography of the District, the natural geography of the District, neighborhood cohesiveness, or the development of compact and contiguous districts.

(f) No redistricting plan or proposed amendment to a redistricting plan shall be considered if the plan or amendment has the purpose and effect of diluting the voting strength of minority citizens.