ST. PAUL — By the end of this week, Minnesota’s political parties must show what they want the state’s congressional and districts to look like.

They have until Friday to present a special court panel with their ideal maps. The court is overseeing the politically charged process because there hasn’t been consensus within state government.

Redistricting happens once a decade as a way to account for population shifts. The goal is to come up with eight congressional districts with roughly the same number of people and 201 like-sized legislative districts.

Until now, Democrats haven’t publicly put on paper their preferred outcome.

Republicans offered maps during the 2010 legislative session. They were vetoed by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.

The court expects to issue its mapmaking decision in February.