Commissioners approve precinct adjustments at Friday meeting

In a short special meeting Monday, Howard County Commissioners took steps to equalize the populations of their districts within the county.

“Precinct 1 (Commissioner Eddilisa Ray) had about 550 less people than the requirement, and Commissioner (Craig) Bailey (Precinct 2) had about 550 more,” said Howard County Judge Kathryn Wiseman. “So the deviation was about 14.47 percent, and the state requires that you have to redistrict if you are more than 10 percent over the deviation rate. There were three commissioners' precincts involved.”

Wiseman said that involvement of a third commissioner's precinct – Precinct 4, represented by Commissioner John Cline – was required because Precincts 1 and 2 do not share a border.

By making adjustments to the precincts' boundary lines, commissioners were able to re-balance the numbers of constituents in each precinct. Precinct 3, represented by Commissioner Jimmie Long, did not change during the adjustment. The change brought the maximum deviation – or difference in populations between the districts – from 14.47 percent to 1.33 percent.

“We moved about 550 people – and we have to watch out for the ethnic mix, also,” Judge Wiseman said. “We found some precincts that were the right mix, and put 550 into John Cline's precinct. He's Precinct 4. Then we moved about 550 people from John Cline's precinct into Eddilisa Ray's Precinct 1.”

Wiseman said that the reason it's necessary to level the population of the commissioners' precincts is to ensure equal representation for the county's residents.

“It's all about voting,” she said. “We have to make sure that we have the correct percentage of ethnic mix; we've got to make sure we have the right percentage of population. So that one population or ethnic mix does not make all the decisions for Howard County. That's what Commissioners Court is all about: representing the people. Making sure that we're serving the people. To do that, we have to adjust if we're over percentage of people or ethnic mix.”

During the meeting, commissioners called a public hearing to allow residents to speak regarding the redistricting plan, but no members of the public opted to speak on the issue.