GAINESVILLE - Gainesville City Council got two surprises during its continuing series of redistricting hearings Thursday morning. On the agenda was the Home Rule Ordinance,enabling local approval of redistricting.
The first surprise came from Maria Duarte with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. She said the city should do away with citywide or at-large voting for city council members. It dilutes Hispanic voting strength and Hispanic voter numbers are growing.
"There are three wards which potentially could have a heavy influential Latino vote and the at large process dilutes that," Duarte said. "We are dealing with the voting age population whether they're registered to vote or not. Latinos are registering to vote at an increased pace."
Duarte's assertion that at large voting is unfair drew reactions from Mayor Pro Tem Danny Dunagan and Council member Myrtle Figueras, both saying that at large voting should stay where it is with no changes. Dunagan added that he felt that all the city elections should be at large.
The other surprise was a third redistricting map drawn up by Board of Education members who run in their districts. According to Board member Delores Diaz the Hispanic voting population is reduced in her district under the current proposal.
"Currently we have a majority minority of Hispanics in Ward (4)," Diaz said. "Proposal (2) shrinks that majority by eight percent so that they are no longer a majority minority. I believe the Justice Department would have some concerns with that."
Diaz added the city needs to maintain the majority minority in her ward, adding that the issue is not voting strength at this point, it is the voting age population.
"We are graduating from high school now second generation Hispanic students and they will be voters," she said. "Whether or not they vote right now is not a concern; they're still people and we still represent them. At some point in time they will represent a large voting bloc."
Diaz said the voting age population in her ward is at 57.07 percent and the redistricting plan would drop that to just over 48 percent. City Clerk Denise Jordan, heading up the redistricting team, said they would take the third proposal under advisement and study. The last hearing on redistricting is set for next Tuesday during City Council's regular meeting.
Redistricting consultant Drew Whalen wants to look at Map (3) more closely as well. Whalen said the voting age population is indeed a factor, but where Hispanics are concerned so is the number of voters who can legally cast a ballot.
"That is a factor we don't have a good answer to here," Whalen said. "There have been cases taken all the way to the Supreme Court over how you judge what the true citizen voting population age is, especially in the Hispanic community."
Whalen expects the Hispanic community's voter rolls will increase in the future, comparing their situation to the Civil Rights Movement during which blacks eventually emerged as an election factor.
"They learned the importance of their franchise rights, they registered, and they voted," he said.
Thursday
October 17th, 2024
3:26PM
