Redistricting Information for 2001

WHEREAS, the Commissioners Court acting on behalf of Galveston County has certain responsibilities for redistricting under federal and state law including, but not limited to, Amendments 14 and 15 to the United States Constitution, U.S.C.A. (West 1987), and the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. & 1973, et seq. (West 1987 and Supp. 1999); Article 5, Section 18 of the Texas Constitution (Vernon 1993 and Supp. 2000); and Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. && 2058.001 and 2058.002 (Vernon Pamph. 2000); and

WHEREAS, on review of the 2000 census data it appears that a population imbalance exists requiring redistricting of the County’s Commissioner Precincts; and

WHEREAS, it is the intent of the County to comply with the Voting Rights Act and with all other relevant law, including Shaw v. Reno jurisprudence and the Consent Judgement and Election Order in Hoskins v. Hannah, et. Al; and

WHEREAS, a set of established redistricting criteria will serve as a framework to guide the County in the consideration of redistricting plans; and

WHEREAS, established criteria will provide the County a means by which to evaluate and measure proposed plans; and

WHEREAS, redistricting criteria will assist the County in its efforts to comply with all applicable federal and state laws; and

WHEREAS, although it is establishing the following guidelines, the County may consider other information, factors and guidelines in making its final determination;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the County, in its adoption of a redistricting plan for Commissioner and Justice of the Peace/Constable Precincts, will adhere to the following criteria:

1. Where possible, easily identifiable geographic boundaries should be followed.
2. Communities of interest should be maintained in a single district, where possible, and attempts should be made to avoid splitting neighborhoods. This does not mean, however, that it is necessary or appropriate to include the County’s larger cities in a single commissioner precinct. To the contrary, there has been a traditional practice of splitting cities, such as Galveston, Texas City, League City, so that they are in two or more commissioner precincts. Since the cities have different characteristics and economies (e. g. tourism and maritime vs. industrial and petrochemical vs. primarily suburban), ensuring that these communities are represented by more than one commissioner helps to avoid isolating a community and encourages a county-wide perspective by the commissioners’ court.
3. To the extent possible, districts should be composed of whole voting precincts. Where this is not possible or practicable, districts should be drawn in a way that permits the creation of practical voting precincts and that ensures that adequate facilities for polling places exist in each voting precinct.
4. Although it is recognized that existing districts will have to be altered to reflect new population distribution, any redistricting plan should, to the extent possible, be based on existing districts.
5. Commissioner precincts must be configured so that they are relatively equal in total population according to the 2000 federal census. In no event should the total deviation between the largest and the smallest commissioner precinct exceed ten percent. The county will attempt to achieve a deviation that is less than ten percent under the data released by the Census Bureau.
6. The districts should be compact and composed of contiguous territory. Compactness may contain a functional, as well as a geographical dimension.
7. Consideration may be given to the preservation of incumbent-constituency relations by recognition of the residence of incumbents and their history in representing certain areas. In addition, consideration may be given to avoiding contests between incumbents holding Commissioner Precinct positions.
8. In drawing justice of the peace/constable precincts, the court will consider the level of workload, the location of county facilities, and the convenience of the people.
9. The redistricting plan should be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression in the position of racial minorities and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.
10. The redistricting plan should not fragment a geographically compact minority community or pack minority voters in the presence of polarized voting so as to create liability under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. & 1973.

WHEREAS, it is necessary to provide for the orderly consideration and evaluation of redistricting plans which may come before the Court; and

WHEREAS, these guidelines relate to persons who have specific redistricting plans they wish the Court to consider; and

WHEREAS, the Court welcomes any comments relevant to the redistricting process;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that in order to make sure that any plan that might be submitted is of maximum assistance to the Court in its decision making process, the Court hereby sets the following guidelines:

1. Plans should be submitted in writing through the office of the County Clerk. If a plan is submitted orally, there is significant opportunity for misunderstanding, and it is possible that errors may be made in analyzing it. The Court wants to be sure that all proposals may be fully and accurately considered. Cooperation in submitting a plan in writing will be of great assistance.
2. Any plan should show the total population and voting age population for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Anglo/other for each proposed commissioner or justice of the peace/constable precinct. If a plan is submitted without a population breakdown, the Court may not have sufficient information to give it full consideration.
3. Plans should be submitted by June 8, 2001. In order to meet the deadlines imposed by state and federal law, the Court will need to adopt a plan by August 2, 2001.
4. Plans should redistrict the entire county either into Commissioner Precincts or Justice of the Peace/Constable Precincts or both. The Court, of course, will be considering the effect of any plan on the entire county. Also the Court is subject to the Voting Rights Act, which protects various racial and language minorities. Thus, as a matter of federal law, it will be required to consider the effect of any proposal on multiple racial and ethnic groups. If a plan does not redistrict the entire county, it may be impossible for the Court to assess its impact on one or more protected minority groups.
5. Plans should conform to the criteria the Court will be using in drawing the commissioner and justice of the peace/constable precincts.

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