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March 29, 2024 8:29 am
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County Unveils First Drafts Of Redistricting Maps

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Preliminary county redistricting maps, unveiled to the public for the first time last week, propose significant changes to commission district boundaries in the rural northeast communities. The draft maps show a consolidation all of northeast Clark County into a District B, represented by Commissioner Tom Collins.

Current district lines had the northeast rurals divided among District B and District A which is represented by Commissioner Steve Sisolak. The Moapa Valley is currently divided roughly in half with Overton in District A and Logandale and Moapa in District B. Virgin Valley was similarly divided with Bunkerville in District A and Mesquite in District B.

“We wanted to make the districts more compact,” said David Heller, a political consultant hired by the county to assist in redistricting. “We didn’t want the boundaries to ramble all over the place.”

But with District A stretching from Bunkerville to Laughlin, and splitting Moapa Valley in half, it was hard to justify maintaining those same boundary lines, Heller said.

The July 6 meeting was the next step in the process of adjusting county commission district boundaries to account for a significant shift in population over the past decade.

Heller began the meeting by citing 2010 census data showing that population in the traditional urban center of Las Vegas has shifted to outlying areas of the Las Vegas valley and to rural areas.

According to Heller, the ideal population number of a Clark County commission district should now be at 278,752. But the census data shows that current districts have drifted far from that number. Heller cited the example of District D, located in the central urban core, which is currently at only 199,572 in population. On the other end of the spectrum was Sisolak’s District A which has grown to a population of 361,869, Heller said.

“This (redistricting process) is not an easy thing to do,” Heller said. “There are a lot of different opinions about where the lines should be drawn. But in meeting with the commissioners they have all emphasized to me that their high priority is to involve the public as much as we can in the process.”

At the meeting, Heller unveiled two separate alternatives for redistricting. He said that the first alternative, plan A, had been seen by all seven commissioners; while the second, plan B, had been completed much more recently and had only been reviewed by a few of the commissioners.

Both alternatives retained similarities to the current boundaries. “We didn’t take out a fresh sheet of paper and just start drawing from scratch,” Heller said. “We based these maps on what we currently have. We are not going to throw out the current lines and pretend they don’t exist.”

While the rural northeast was consolidated, other rural areas in the county were further splintered between districts.

Boulder City, with a population of around 15,000, was taken out of District A and placed into District G represented by Commissioner Mary Beth Scow.

In the Plan A version of the map, Scow’s District G also receives the Lake Las Vegas. But in the Plan B version, Lake Las Vegas and a corner of Henderson would be taken in by a bulge to the District E eastern boundary and would be represented by Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani.

Rural areas in the far south like Laughlin and Searchlight stayed in Sisolak’s District A. But the new District A western boundary would stretch further west to the I-15 and take in Primm as well; a small territory previously in Commissioner Susan Brager’s District F.

“We tried to divide up the rural areas among five of the seven Commissioners,” said Heller. “We didn’t want any one Commissioner to end up with too much rural area. That would allow the ability for everyone to pay enough attention to their constituents.”

Much of the discussion at the meeting centered around racial group representation in the urban areas.

Heller stated that compliance with federal, state and local law regarding fair elections had been a high priority in drawing the maps. He cited the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 stating that if a predominantly racial/ethnic district could be created, then it must be created.

“We have accomplished that in these maps,” he said.

Heller referred to the proposed District D, currently represented by Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, which would have over 57% Hispanic voters. In addition, the hispanic segment in Guinchigliani’s district G would be over 41%, Heller said.

But African Americans present at the meeting expressed concern about the proposed boundaries.

“You keep a large part of the African American population divided,” said one woman in attendance.

She suggested that district D should be extended north roughly along the v-shape between I-15 and Highway 95 to take in more African American voters living in that area.

“With the way you have it, I see very little chance for fair representation for us,” she said.

Meeting attendee, Jose Solorio complained that not enough was being done to create a Latino district distinct and separate from an African American district. “I’d like to see a more diverse membership on the county commission,” he said. “But when we (Hispanics) are being packed in the same district with African American vote, we are more likely to have an either/or situation. There is a way to have each group represented by different districts rather than packed in the same.”

Another issue raised at the meeting was about how the new districts would affect the predominant political affiliation in each district. In all seven proposed districts Democratic affiliation significantly outnumbered Republican.

According to Heller, District D represented the widest spread with nearly 65% Democrat and 16% Republican. The narrowest margin was in District G where it would be 41% Democrat to 36% Republican. Collins’ District B would be 44% Democrat and 34% Republican, Heller said.

One attendee raised a specific concern about the political shift being proposed in District C, represented by Commissioner Larry Brown. In the proposed maps, District C would change from a predominantly Republican district to a district with 42% Democrat and 37% Republican.

“By these maps you’ve left no Republican districts,” the attendee said. “In District C we had a Republican majority. But this changes that. Why can’t we keep just one of those.”

Heller responded that the proposed changes would make the boundary lines more compact. “We are not trying to reach out to grab these Republicans to put together a Republican district.”

“So what you are saying is that you can do something for the Latinos and African Americans but can’t do anything for Democrat and Republicans?” the man said.

“That is it precisely,” Heller said. “That is all that the Federal Voting Rights Act demands. It doesn’t say anything about accomodating for political affiliation.”

To conclude the meeting, Heller emphasized that the maps were still working documents. “These are not the final maps,” he said. “They are first drafts, not last.”

Heller then restated the importance of public input into the process. “If anything drives this process it is the desire for public input,” he said. “The Commissioners want your feedback on these maps. Tell them what you like and what you don’t like.”

Heller said that it would be at least two weeks before the maps were formally presented to the County Commission. Then it might be some time after that before final approval is given, he said.

All of the redistricting maps and other information are available for public review online by clicking here.

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