After months of work the Wicomico County Redistricting Committee presented its proposal for new councilmanic districts to the County Council on Tuesday. Chairman Joe Collins made the presentation to council. The bi-partisan plan, approved with no dissenting votes from the four Republicans and three Democrats on the committee, provided for a minority district that is 59.03% African-American and a population in each district which is almost equal.
Under the committee’s proposal, the districts would have populations ranging from 19,783 in District 1 to 19,907 in District 5. The ideal population for each district is 19,837.
During the council’s discussion of the proposal during a work session Tuesday, one problem was noted: the proposed map would result in an increase of precincts from the current 38 to approximately 50. When asked about this, Redistricting Committee vice chairman G. A. Harrison said that this was outside of the committee’s charge:
We were bound by applicable state and federal law and given a specific charge from the county council. Because of the newly drawn legislative districts, the number of precincts were going to change regardless of what we did. It needs to be noted that the number and location of polling places should not change. This is what matters most to voters anyway. We should also note that some of these new precincts are “paper” or “ghost” precincts which don’t have people living in them. It is true that the cost of the elections could rise slightly because of the increase in “ballot styles” (each precinct requires its own ballot style). If I have any regrets on this matter it’s that increasing the number of precincts does increase the work load for the good folks at the Board of Elections.
When the Daily Times reported on the presentation on Wednesday they made a huge mistake in reporting the African-American population percentage in the proposed District 1 – reporting it as 53.09% instead of the actual 59.03%. Committee chairman Joe Collins believes this is a grave error:
On the surface, people may think that it’s no big deal. 53%. 59%. They’re both a majority, right? Unfortunately, there is a huge difference. African-American voter turnout drops greatly between the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections. Part of our charge, as interpreted by the County Attorney, was to draw a minority district that which provides for a high probability of electing an African-American candidate. When you have a district that is under 55 or 56 percent African-American you then are faced with a district where the majority of voters are no longer African-American. I’m hoping that the Daily Times’ error was just that, a mistake, and they will print a correction. Unfortunately, the damage is done.
As Collins pointed out on Tuesday, the committee’s work was strictly advisory and that the final decision will be made by the county council. If the council does not act within 70 days, the committee’s map becomes law.
View the committee’s presentation here:
1 comment:
Leave it to the dt's to screw up the numbers. The redistricting people deserve our gratitude and the dt's should correct their error.
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