May 15, 2008	2008-R-0297
Party-Dominant Districts in Connecticut
By: Kristin Sullivan, Associate Analyst

You asked for an update of the analysis of party-dominant state legislative districts in OLR Report 2005-R-0636.

summary

The General Assembly enacted PA 05-5, October Special Session, which established the Citizen’s Election Program, after we issued OLR Report 2005-R-0636.  The report stated the number of legislative districts where the percentage of party-affiliated active voters, or those properly enrolled, was 10, 15, or 20% greater in one of the major parties than in the other (i.e., Democratic (D) or Republican (R)).  Under the Citizens’ Election Program, a party-dominant district is one where the percentage of the electors in a district who are on the active voter registry list and enrolled in one major party exceeds the percentage of the electors in the district who are on the active voter registry list and enrolled in the other major party by at least 20% (CGS §§ 9-705(e)(1) and (f)(1)). 

Using May 2008 data that the Office of the Secretary of the State provided from the centralized voter registration system, we found that over 33% of Senate districts and 38% of House districts meet the party-dominant district requirement under the Citizens’ Election Program.  We also found that in over 66% of Senate districts and 64% of House districts one of the two major parties has at least 10% more enrolled voters than the other major party. 

Table 1 shows the total number of Senate and House districts where the percentage of party-affiliated active voters is 10, 15, or 20% greater in one of the major parties than in the other.  Tables 2 and 3 provide a breakdown of all Senate and House districts, respectively, showing the number and percentage of voters who are affiliated with a major or minor party and the number and percentage who are unaffiliated.  We indicate that the percentage of party-affiliated active voters is between 10 and 14.99% greater in one of the two major parties by placing a “D” or “R” in the “10% Majority” column.  If the percentage of party-affiliated active voters is between 15 and 19.99% greater, we place a “D” or “R” in the “15% Majority” column. Finally, if the percentage is at least 20% greater, indicating a party-dominant district, we place a “D” or “R” in the “20% Majority” column.

table 1: major party voter enrollment by district

	Total Districts	Enrollment Difference Less than 10%	10% Enrollment Difference		15% Enrollment Difference		20% Enrollment Difference
			Democratic	Republican	Democratic	Republican	Democratic	Republican
Senate	36	11	7	1	5	0	12	0
House	151	53	15	5	19	1	56	2

TABLE 2: SENATE DISTRICTS: ENROLLED VOTERS ON THE ACTIVE LIST BY PARTY AFFILIATION

District	Total	Democrat	Republican	Minor Party	Unaffiliated	% Democrat	% Republican	%            Minor Party	% Unaffiliated	% Difference between D and R	10% Majority	15% Majority	20% Majority
1	36449	22718	3400	51	10280	62.3%	9.3%	0.1%	28.2%	53.0%			D
2	44670	27236	4107	50	13277	61.0%	9.2%	0.1%	29.7%	51.8%			D
3	53031	21487	9066	102	22376	40.5%	17.1%	0.2%	42.2%	23.4%			D
4	58463	20853	13499	91	24020	35.7%	23.1%	0.2%	41.1%	12.6%	D
5	60464	25144	13041	89	22190	41.6%	21.6%	0.1%	36.7%	20.0%			D
6	44900	21960	7063	186	15691	48.9%	15.7%	0.4%	34.9%	33.2%			D
7	55697	18299	12495	103	24800	32.9%	22.4%	0.2%	44.5%	10.4%	D
8	59970	18129	17930	108	23803	30.2%	29.9%	0.2%	39.7%	0.3%
9	56954	24343	10590	80	21941	42.7%	18.6%	0.1%	38.5%	24.1%			D
10	42146	27995	2039	113	11999	66.4%	4.8%	0.3%	28.5%	61.6%			D
11	46944	27417	4498	166	14863	58.4%	9.6%	0.4%	31.7%	48.8%			D
12	63372	18540	14571	137	30124	29.3%	23.0%	0.2%	47.5%	6.3%
13	55146	18792	9349	79	26926	34.1%	17.0%	0.1%	48.8%	17.1%		D
14	57672	20661	11416	84	25511	35.8%	19.8%	0.1%	44.2%	16.0%		D
15	46938	20302	7641	490	18505	43.3%	16.3%	1.0%	39.4%	27.0%			D
16	57333	19160	11610	409	26154	33.4%	20.3%	0.7%	45.6%	13.2%	D
17	50161	18813	8611	157	22580	37.5%	17.2%	0.3%	45.0%	20.3%			D
18	55659	17768	11310	68	26513	31.9%	20.3%	0.1%	47.6%	11.6%	D
19	52564	17587	10651	153	24173	33.5%	20.3%	0.3%	46.0%	13.2%	D
20	53143	17561	11335	142	24105	33.0%	21.3%	0.3%	45.4%	11.7%	D
21	57696	13787	13809	133	29967	23.9%	23.9%	0.2%	51.9%	0.0%
22	53227	20623	10173	69	22362	38.7%	19.1%	0.1%	42.0%	19.6%		D
23	38487	25178	2007	46	11256	65.4%	5.2%	0.1%	29.2%	60.2%			D
24	45650	12925	10951	270	21504	28.3%	24.0%	0.6%	47.1%	4.3%
25	53112	16498	13624	779	22211	31.1%	25.7%	1.5%	41.8%	5.4%
26	63344	18748	21974	147	22475	29.6%	34.7%	0.2%	35.5%	-5.1%
27	42065	17282	10336	310	14137	41.1%	24.6%	0.7%	33.6%	16.5%		D
28	60639	16998	18787	213	24641	28.0%	31.0%	0.4%	40.6%	-3.0%
29	50514	18346	8519	142	23507	36.3%	16.9%	0.3%	46.5%	19.5%		D
30	62760	16864	18473	146	27277	26.9%	29.4%	0.2%	43.5%	-2.6%
31	50675	19407	9213	70	21985	38.3%	18.2%	0.1%	43.4%	20.1%			D
32	63860	14815	19335	112	29598	23.2%	30.3%	0.2%	46.3%	-7.1%
33	61407	19027	14600	135	27645	31.0%	23.8%	0.2%	45.0%	7.2%
34	55703	16811	10711	62	28119	30.2%	19.2%	0.1%	50.5%	11.0%	D
35	58829	18215	12774	144	27696	31.0%	21.7%	0.2%	47.1%	9.2%
36	53718	14932	20891	282	17613	27.8%	38.9%	0.5%	32.8%	-11.1%	R
										TOTAL Ds	7	5	12
										TOTAL Rs	1	0	0
										TOTAL NON-PARTY-DOMINANT DISTRICTS = 11

TABLE 3: HOUSE DISTRICTS: ENROLLED VOTERS ON THE ACTIVE LIST BY PARTY AFFILIATION

District	Total	Democrat	Republican	Minor Party	Unaffiliated	% Democrat	% Republican	%            Minor Party	% Unaffiliated	% Difference between D and R	10% Majority	15% Majority	20% Majority
1	9577	6491	551	2520	15	67.8%	5.8%	0.2%	26.3%	62.0%			D
2	13200	3797	3299	6061	43	28.8%	25.0%	0.3%	45.9%	3.8%
3	7312	5462	282	1562	6	74.7%	3.9%	0.1%	21.4%	70.8%			D
4	6747	4716	289	1727	15	69.9%	4.3%	0.2%	25.6%	65.6%			D
5	7983	6050	243	1686	4	75.8%	3.0%	0.1%	21.1%	72.7%			D
6	8919	6039	603	2269	8	67.7%	6.8%	0.1%	25.4%	60.9%			D
7	8198	6122	286	1781	9	74.7%	3.5%	0.1%	21.7%	71.2%			D
8	15017	4683	3156	7137	41	31.2%	21.0%	0.3%	47.5%	10.2%	D
9	15651	5980	3354	6299	18	38.2%	21.4%	0.1%	40.2%	16.8%		D
10	11353	5491	1270	4566	26	48.4%	11.2%	0.2%	40.2%	37.2%			D
11	9799	4790	1069	3905	35	48.9%	10.9%	0.4%	39.9%	38.0%			D
12	12711	4975	2409	5304	23	39.1%	19.0%	0.2%	41.7%	20.2%			D
13	10873	4321	1867	4659	26	39.7%	17.2%	0.2%	42.8%	22.6%			D
14	14465	5441	3258	5750	16	37.6%	22.5%	0.1%	39.8%	15.1%		D
15	15357	8083	2170	5090	14	52.6%	14.1%	0.1%	33.1%	38.5%			D
16	15535	4556	5326	5619	34	29.3%	34.3%	0.2%	36.2%	-5.0%
17	15911	4764	5022	6098	27	29.9%	31.6%	0.2%	38.3%	-1.6%
18	13125	6672	2127	4311	15	50.8%	16.2%	0.1%	32.8%	34.6%			D
19	15301	6259	3930	5095	17	40.9%	25.7%	0.1%	33.3%	15.2%		D
20	12182	5310	2209	4634	29	43.6%	18.1%	0.2%	38.0%	25.5%			D
21	14983	4859	3878	6226	20	32.4%	25.9%	0.1%	41.6%	6.5%
22	12435	5030	2338	5049	18	40.5%	18.8%	0.1%	40.6%	21.6%			D
23	16487	4503	5370	6593	21	27.3%	32.6%	0.1%	40.0%	-5.3%
24	11156	5841	1493	3756	66	52.4%	13.4%	0.6%	33.7%	39.0%			D
25	9137	4900	861	3323	53	53.6%	9.4%	0.6%	36.4%	44.2%			D
26	9974	5260	1345	3320	49	52.7%	13.5%	0.5%	33.3%	39.3%			D
27	14095	6276	2541	5265	13	44.5%	18.0%	0.1%	37.4%	26.5%			D
28	14945	6083	3149	5694	19	40.7%	21.1%	0.1%	38.1%	19.6%		D
29	14156	5794	2876	5472	14	40.9%	20.3%	0.1%	38.7%	20.6%			D
30	14954	5402	3448	6041	63	36.1%	23.1%	0.4%	40.4%	13.1%	D
31	15624	5114	4514	5982	14	32.7%	28.9%	0.1%	38.3%	3.8%
32	15153	5469	3073	6595	16	36.1%	20.3%	0.1%	43.5%	15.8%		D
33	11516	5770	1631	4080	35	50.1%	14.2%	0.3%	35.4%	35.9%			D
34	12384	4543	2366	5451	24	36.7%	19.1%	0.2%	44.0%	17.6%		D
35	15839	4227	4081	7503	28	26.7%	25.8%	0.2%	47.4%	0.9%
36	15413	5050	3681	6644	38	32.8%	23.9%	0.2%	43.1%	8.9%
37	13841	4304	3249	6266	22	31.1%	23.5%	0.2%	45.3%	7.6%
38	14584	4506	2801	7257	20	30.9%	19.2%	0.1%	49.8%	11.7%	D
39	7860	3571	767	3455	67	45.4%	9.8%	0.9%	44.0%	35.7%			D
40	9069	3138	1454	4455	22	34.6%	16.0%	0.2%	49.1%	18.6%		D
41	11208	3280	2513	5408	7	29.3%	22.4%	0.1%	48.3%	6.8%
42	13671	3567	3501	6585	18	26.1%	25.6%	0.1%	48.2%	0.5%
43	15739	4891	3534	7290	24	31.1%	22.5%	0.2%	46.3%	8.6%
44	13128	4040	2259	6815	14	30.8%	17.2%	0.1%	51.9%	13.6%	D
45	13286	4969	2393	5910	14	37.4%	18.0%	0.1%	44.5%	19.4%		D
46	10795	4297	1472	4967	59	39.8%	13.6%	0.5%	46.0%	26.2%			D
47	13661	4682	2666	6253	60	34.3%	19.5%	0.4%	45.8%	14.8%	D
48	14547	4620	3145	6738	44	31.8%	21.6%	0.3%	46.3%	10.1%	D
49	12465	5218	1688	5495	64	41.9%	13.5%	0.5%	44.1%	28.3%			D
50	14378	4192	3896	6271	19	29.2%	27.1%	0.1%	43.6%	2.1%
51	12972	4552	2326	6081	13	35.1%	17.9%	0.1%	46.9%	17.2%		D
52	14005	4608	2959	6418	20	32.9%	21.1%	0.1%	45.8%	11.8%	D
53	15303	4448	3330	7471	54	29.1%	21.8%	0.4%	48.8%	7.3%
54	11539	4855	1791	4851	42	42.1%	15.5%	0.4%	42.0%	26.6%			D
55	15799	4860	3952	6960	27	30.8%	25.0%	0.2%	44.1%	5.7%
56	10875	3496	1839	5518	22	32.1%	16.9%	0.2%	50.7%	15.2%		D
57	15298	4271	3281	7726	20	27.9%	21.4%	0.1%	50.5%	6.5%
58	12785	4871	2136	5754	24	38.1%	16.7%	0.2%	45.0%	21.4%			D
59	12219	4389	2416	5383	31	35.9%	19.8%	0.3%	44.1%	16.1%		D
60	13585	5442	2239	5881	23	40.1%	16.5%	0.2%	43.3%	23.6%			D
61	13501	4256	3537	5687	21	31.5%	26.2%	0.2%	42.1%	5.3%
62	14857	4140	4509	6175	33	27.9%	30.3%	0.2%	41.6%	-2.5%
63	14664	4119	3622	6855	42	28.1%	24.7%	0.3%	46.7%	3.4%
64	15006	4969	4168	5845	24	33.1%	27.8%	0.2%	39.0%	5.3%
65	10884	3829	2467	4574	14	35.2%	22.7%	0.1%	42.0%	12.5%	D
66	16000	3992	5593	6393	22	25.0%	35.0%	0.1%	40.0%	-10.0%	R
67	14110	3361	3937	6779	33	23.8%	27.9%	0.2%	48.0%	-4.1%
68	14339	3619	3588	7105	27	25.2%	25.0%	0.2%	49.6%	0.2%
69	16262	4055	5336	6838	33	24.9%	32.8%	0.2%	42.0%	-7.9%
70	11903	3970	2228	5579	126	33.4%	18.7%	1.1%	46.9%	14.6%	D
71	13734	4764	4182	4675	113	34.7%	30.4%	0.8%	34.0%	4.2%
72	9585	4851	1001	3624	109	50.6%	10.4%	1.1%	37.8%	40.2%			D
73	11333	5010	1748	4432	143	44.2%	15.4%	1.3%	39.1%	28.8%			D
74	11008	4756	1569	4543	140	43.2%	14.3%	1.3%	41.3%	29.0%			D
75	9887	5638	885	3254	110	57.0%	9.0%	1.1%	32.9%	48.1%			D
76	15080	4167	3922	6962	29	27.6%	26.0%	0.2%	46.2%	1.6%
77	13022	5562	2164	5282	14	42.7%	16.6%	0.1%	40.6%	26.1%			D
78	13923	4622	2590	6683	28	33.2%	18.6%	0.2%	48.0%	14.6%	D
79	11617	4815	1878	4909	15	41.4%	16.2%	0.1%	42.3%	25.3%			D
80	14968	4049	3512	7346	61	27.1%	23.5%	0.4%	49.1%	3.6%
81	14246	4541	2961	6652	92	31.9%	20.8%	0.6%	46.7%	11.1%	D
82	12661	4148	1916	6583	14	32.8%	15.1%	0.1%	52.0%	17.6%		D
83	13772	4795	2390	6568	19	34.8%	17.4%	0.1%	47.7%	17.5%		D
84	8956	3106	981	4865	4	34.7%	11.0%	0.0%	54.3%	23.7%			D
85	12767	4106	2022	6623	16	32.2%	15.8%	0.1%	51.9%	16.3%		D
86	12855	3608	2449	6785	13	28.1%	19.1%	0.1%	52.8%	9.0%
87	15305	3671	3842	7779	13	24.0%	25.1%	0.1%	50.8%	-1.1%
88	12005	5050	1727	5205	23	42.1%	14.4%	0.2%	43.4%	27.7%			D
89	15165	3747	4047	7352	19	24.7%	26.7%	0.1%	48.5%	-2.0%
90	12288	3202	2649	6414	23	26.1%	21.6%	0.2%	52.2%	4.5%
91	11419	5471	1238	4662	48	47.9%	10.8%	0.4%	40.8%	37.1%			D
92	10557	7229	432	2855	41	68.5%	4.1%	0.4%	27.0%	64.4%			D
93	9335	6311	317	2678	29	67.6%	3.4%	0.3%	28.7%	64.2%			D
94	9859	6935	426	2465	33	70.3%	4.3%	0.3%	25.0%	66.0%			D
95	9664	7561	205	1887	11	78.2%	2.1%	0.1%	19.5%	76.1%			D
96	11797	7221	1030	3472	74	61.2%	8.7%	0.6%	29.4%	52.5%			D
97	10136	6551	735	2823	27	64.6%	7.3%	0.3%	27.9%	57.4%			D
98	15821	5300	3532	6962	27	33.5%	22.3%	0.2%	44.0%	11.2%	D
99	11898	4439	1981	5471	7	37.3%	16.6%	0.1%	46.0%	20.7%			D
100	13969	5144	2888	5909	28	36.8%	20.7%	0.2%	42.3%	16.2%		D
101	16024	4292	4908	6758	66	26.8%	30.6%	0.4%	42.2%	-3.8%
102	13902	4647	2039	7196	20	33.4%	14.7%	0.1%	51.8%	18.8%		D
103	14253	4091	3217	6921	24	28.7%	22.6%	0.2%	48.6%	6.1%
104	10947	4317	1533	5086	11	39.4%	14.0%	0.1%	46.5%	25.4%			D
105	13480	3407	2832	7227	14	25.3%	21.0%	0.1%	53.6%	4.3%
106	14272	3808	4448	5908	108	26.7%	31.2%	0.8%	41.4%	-4.5%
107	13794	3073	4634	6074	13	22.3%	33.6%	0.1%	44.0%	-11.3%	R
108	14697	3438	4455	6787	17	23.4%	30.3%	0.1%	46.2%	-6.9%
109	10053	3073	2066	4814	100	30.6%	20.6%	1.0%	47.9%	10.0%	D
110	5817	2086	898	2774	59	35.9%	15.4%	1.0%	47.7%	20.4%			D
111	15133	4272	5791	4983	87	28.2%	38.3%	0.6%	32.9%	-10.0%	R
112	14299	2925	3826	7526	22	20.5%	26.8%	0.2%	52.6%	-6.3%
113	13185	2926	3267	6974	18	22.2%	24.8%	0.1%	52.9%	-2.6%
114	14740	4842	3212	6672	14	32.8%	21.8%	0.1%	45.3%	11.1%	D
115	12725	7423	1374	3906	22	58.3%	10.8%	0.2%	30.7%	47.5%			D
116	10405	5878	876	3630	21	56.5%	8.4%	0.2%	34.9%	48.1%			D
117	15549	5570	3211	6751	17	35.8%	20.7%	0.1%	43.4%	15.2%		D
118	12436	3529	2546	6342	19	28.4%	20.5%	0.2%	51.0%	7.9%
119	13720	3916	3154	6625	25	28.5%	23.0%	0.2%	48.3%	5.6%
120	13387	3582	2993	6760	52	26.8%	22.4%	0.4%	50.5%	4.4%
121	11313	4191	1581	5503	38	37.0%	14.0%	0.3%	48.6%	23.1%			D
122	14966	3236	3881	7819	30	21.6%	25.9%	0.2%	52.2%	-4.3%
123	16255	4121	4260	7860	14	25.4%	26.2%	0.1%	48.4%	-0.9%
124	10633	7041	592	2994	6	66.2%	5.6%	0.1%	28.2%	60.7%			D
125	13321	3008	6488	3803	22	22.6%	48.7%	0.2%	28.5%	-26.1%			R
126	11598	7509	774	3304	11	64.7%	6.7%	0.1%	28.5%	58.1%			D
127	10314	5695	1206	3392	21	55.2%	11.7%	0.2%	32.9%	43.5%			D
128	8183	5659	338	2173	13	69.2%	4.1%	0.2%	26.6%	65.0%			D
129	9181	5072	1131	2956	22	55.2%	12.3%	0.2%	32.2%	42.9%			D
130	8698	5764	460	2464	10	66.3%	5.3%	0.1%	28.3%	61.0%			D
131	15230	3514	4223	7447	46	23.1%	27.7%	0.3%	48.9%	-4.7%
132	14070	4080	3974	5989	27	29.0%	28.2%	0.2%	42.6%	0.8%
133	13956	3983	4608	5345	20	28.5%	33.0%	0.1%	38.3%	-4.5%
134	14897	4152	3997	6724	24	27.9%	26.8%	0.2%	45.1%	1.0%
135	15601	4542	5123	5902	34	29.1%	32.8%	0.2%	37.8%	-3.7%
136	15457	5629	4463	5346	19	36.4%	28.9%	0.1%	34.6%	7.5%
137	11939	4142	2380	5184	233	34.7%	19.9%	2.0%	43.4%	14.8%	D
138	11815	3422	2839	5483	71	29.0%	24.0%	0.6%	46.4%	4.9%
139	12758	3785	2669	6274	30	29.7%	20.9%	0.2%	49.2%	8.7%