12-11-2001 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e Redistricting Minutes - Page 3 The Committee followed these guidelines when considering new district lines. In some instances they had to cut across a subdivision, but mainly you will see main streets or a large stream. Historic communities of interest shall be maintained in a single district, where possible, and to the extent possible, neighborhoods shall not be split when drawing district boundaries. It is recognized, due to the size of the City, that it is not possible to use County voting precincts. This has been a problem from the very beginning of this process, going back to the 1980's. When Harris County draws its precincts, they must draw those to accommodate congressional races, Texas Senate/Legislative races, County Commissioner's Court and the Justice of the Peace Courts. It is very difficult for them to do that. They can't accommodate themselves to a City district. We will continue to have City districts containing one or more county voting precincts, which causes much confusion, but we have not been able to deal with this matter to date. The new district plans shall be based on the existing benchmark plan to the extent possible. Districts shall be drawn relatively equal in population size and based on the population deviation factor of +/- 5%. To the extent possible, districts should be reasonably compact and contiguous to one another. The new district plan shall recognize incumbent constituency relationships. This means that it is proper for the committee to look at existing incumbency in the existing districts and to the extent possible, retain that. The Committee, in drawing the new proposed map, did this. The Voting Rights Act was passed in the early 1960's primarily to protect minority voting rights. The plan must be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression to the extent possible, within the allowable population deviation, in the position of racial minority, and also language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with respect to their affective exercise of the electoral franchise. That means, if you have a concentration of a particular minority group, they will be taken into consideration when redrawing new district boundaries and maximize their voting strength to the extent you can. Based on the above referenced criteria established by federal law, federal regulations, and federal court decisions, these were the main focus points and direction provided to the Committee from City Council. The Redistricting Committee has met twice a month for a number of months and has prepared a number of map drafts before making a final recommendation to City Council. Data provided from the Census Bureau was used in establishing maps.