City redistricting plan means major changes
Staff Reports
38 years.
That was the last time the City of Jefferson redrew the lines for the City’s Wards.
And that was done by court order.
Last Friday, the City held a Redistricting Workshop to examine those lines and the impact the 2020 US Census, and almost 40 years of change, had on them.
The outcome? A radically different look to the City’s three Alderman Wards.
“This is the first time in almost 40 years that Jefferson has gone through this process, due to a court case back in the early 1980’s, regarding the lack of minority representation in Council,” said Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker. “The process is the culmination of the US Census process which looks at total population, population and eligible voters in each Ward, as well as the distribution of minority voters within the population. When reviewing the census data, it was evident that the three wards in Jefferson were out of balance from a total voters perspective, which seems to be the result of not balancing since the 1980’s.”
The City of Jefferson worked with Bob Bass, the attorney that led the Marion County process.
Bass initially presented the City with two options which, according to Baker, both achieved the goal of balancing the populations in the wards, it failed to address minority voting as both options basically “watered down” the percentages of minority voters in the new ward maps.
To solve this, Bass led the Council through the process and built a third option during the session, which achieved the goals of both balanced population as well as minority representation.
2020 US Census data set Jefferson’s population at 1,875, a significant drop from the roughly 2,100 counted in 2010.
Each Ward must have less than 10% deviation in population between them to comply with redistricting laws, but a less than 5% deviation is desirable for population changes over the next decade.
The proposed plan places 632 residents in Ward 1, 625 residents in Ward 2, and 618 residents in Ward 3. This leaves a deviation of 2.24% citywide.
Ethnicity wise, the proposed plan has Ward 2 as a designated minority district with 62.24% of residents identifying as non-Anglo on Census data and 37.76% Anglo. Ward 1 is 27.22% non-Anglo and 72.78% Anglo. Ward 3 is 34.32% non-Anglo and 65.7% Anglo. Census data breaks up Non-Anglo into Black, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, Hawaii/Pacific Islander, Other, and Multi.
Voting age population, however, in each Ward looks a little different, but still provides a clearly defined minority ward. Ward 1 is 78.33% Anglo’s of voting age, and 21.67% Non-Anglo’s of voting age; Ward 2 is 41.5% Anglo’s of voting age, and 58.5% Non-Anglo’s of voting age; Ward 3 is 68.33% Anglo’s of voting age, and 31.67% Non-Anglo’s of voting age.
The proposed new ward map will change the voting ward for a significant portion of city voters.
Baker described the new proposed map as “taking the existing map and rotating it counter-clockwise.”
The proposed new boundaries affect all Council Adlerman seats in some way.
Maps of each Proposed Ward are included, but also described as follows:
• Ward 1 would basically covers the South and South West side of Jefferson. It will use FM 134 or Polk Street from the Southern City Limits as an Eastern border until it reaches Dallas Street.T hen it uses East Dallas to Walnut then to Lafayette to Soda streets as a boundary. It will then follow Soda Street to St. Johns (Tx 49) before turning south to Elizabeth Street. It will follow Elizabeth Street as a Northern border until it reaches Tuttle Street. Then following Tuttle Street South to W Baker and then follow the Big Cypress Bayou to the Western City Limits.
• Ward 2 uses Big Cypress Bayou to W Baker Street as a Southern boundary, then goes North on S. Tuttle Street to W. Elizabeth Street. It then turns North on US 59/Walcott Street until it reaches N. Alley. It then follows N. Alley Street to Westview Drive. Then along Westview Drive to River Oaks Drive around to Woodlands Drive to North Line Street and then to the Northern City Limits.
• Ward 3 makes up an area bounded by the Northern City Limits east of N. Line Street to South of Woodland Dr, to River Oaks Drive to Westview to N Alley Street to US59. East of US 59 down to Elizabeth Street, then north of Elizabeth to St. John’s (Tx49) to N. Soda Street. Then everything East of Soda Street to Lafayette to Walnut to Dallas Streets and south along Polk/FM 134 to the City Limits on the South.
The change takes effect after being adopted following a public hearing at 6:30p.m. Tuesday at the Transportation Center.
Aldermen who are not up for election this year will retain their seats, regardless of in which ward they currently reside.
Aldermen spots which are up for election, will follow the new boundaries. One seat in each Ward is up for election on May 7th, as well as the Mayor’s office, which is elected at large.
Ward 2 Alderman James Parsons, Ward 1 Aldermen Jim Finstrom and David Westbrook are the only Aldermen whose residences leave them in the Ward they currently represent. Parsons and Westbrook’s seats are both up for election this year. Finstrom’s, Moore’s, and Turner’s seats are up for election in May 2023.
Both Ward 3 Aldermen Richard Turner and Ted Dickson’s residences are moving into Ward 1.
Ward 2 Alderman Robin Moore will become a resident of Ward 3.
Baker said “candidates filing for office should review the proposed map before filing.”
The deadline to sign-up to run for an Alderman or Mayor’s seat is February 18.