§ 19:46-10 — Districting standards

5. a. The plan certified by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission for the establishment of Congressional districts shall provide for equality of population among districts; for the preservation of minority voting status within each district; for the geographical contiguity of individual districts; and for reasonable protection for districts from decade to decade against disruptive alteration due to redistricting. b. (1) In the plan, the population of each Congressional district shall be as nearly equal as practicable, and the difference in population between the most populous and least populous districts as small as practicable, as required by the Constitution of the United States and all applicable decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. (2) No Congressional district shall be established which fragments an ethnic or racial minority community which, if left intact, would constitute a majority or significant number of voters or potential voters within a single district with the ability to elect the candidate of their choice. For the purposes of this paragraph, a minority community means any group enjoying special protection under the civil rights provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the federal "Voting Rights Act of 1965," as amended and supplemented (42 U.S.C. s. 1973 et seq.). c. Congressional districts shall be drawn so that they are contiguous. d. To the fullest extent reasonable and when not in conflict with the foregoing standards, Congressional districts shall be drawn to preserve continuity from decade to decade. L.1991,c.510,s.5; per s.12, expired January 1, 2001.