DAPHNE, Ala. — Re-districting will begin after governments receive census information from the federal government, Baldwin County residents attending a political workshop learned Saturday.

By April 1, all states will receive household and demographics information needed for the re-districting process, which changes political borders. Alabama has seven of 435 House of Representatives seats — the same number from the previous decade.

Several guidelines govern how authorities must follow a re-districting process. According to Fred McBride, the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project’s re-districting project coordinator, residents should know the rules and hold their leaders accountable.

“Tell them that you’re watching them to make sure they draw fair districts,” he said. McBride spoke at a re-districting workshop about major regulations that must adhere if a city, state or county re-draws district lines after last April’s census recording. Lines also affect county commission, city council and school-board districts.

District lines affect whom citizens can vote for in elections, and the right to vote can be tainted if some communities are secluded or divided because of district lines, McBride said.

“One person, one vote” means all districts should be equal in size or as equal as possible, he said, adding it’s acceptable to allow 10 percent between the most populated and least populated district, but congressional-seat districts must be “nearly exact.”

To follow the Voting Rights Act, new district lines cannot dilute a minority group’s vote within a district; also, southern states must submit changes to the United States Department of Justice because of the history in racial discrimination, McBride said.

Representation can be negatively affected in several ways when district lines are changed. For instance, moving polling locations to make it harder for minority communities to commute, and annexing areas that include residents of mostly one race, lessen the impact of a group’s vote.

Political subdivisions — city-counties for example — must be maintained when drawing statewide districts; communities of interest — a group of people with a common interest not including racial groups (such as Alabama farmers or West Virginia coal miners) — cannot be divided; and contiguity — all parts within a district touching — must be followed, under the law.

“When we see a plan that we think hurts voters, we’ll send it to the Department of Justice,” McBride said of the ACLU.

The Baldwin County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, Daphne Councilman John Lake, Foley Councilwoman Vera Quates and Bay Minette Councilman Melvin Bradley helped organize the event. Willie Williams, a Fairhope resident and president of the MLK committee, coordinated the event.