As the Columbus City Council prepares for a public hearing Monday on the federally mandated redistricting, an alternate plan has surfaced. The new plan is being publicly supported by Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens and Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem.
“There are some ministers and some members of the community, myself included, who do not think the redistricting map approved by the council is fair,” Karriem said Saturday.
“We drew up an alternate plan that we think is fair. But it is just a suggestion. (Consultant Chris Watson of Bridge and Watson) said if the community or members of the community didn’t agree with the plan approved by the council, they could come up with their own plan.”
The new plan is an alternative to a redistricting map approved by the council last month on 4-2 vote. Mickens and Karriem voted against the measure. Under the city’s proposal, Wards 1 and 2 would remain unchanged, as was suggested by Watson during the preliminary rounds of the redistricting discussion. Mickens, whose ward is overpopulated by 118 people according to 2010 census data, verbally opposed the suggestion, stating he wanted to get as close to mean average as possible. Ideally, each ward should have 3,940 residents, although there is no requirement that mandates that as long as the overall variance (number of residents in the most-populated ward compared to the number of residents in the least-populated ward) does not exceed 10 percent.
Currently there is a 20 percent variance between the city’s most populated ward, Ward 6, and its least populated, Ward 4. The new map would cut the variance to 9.5 percent.
The council-approved map also has Ward 3 reduced by 350 people and a block on Hemlock Street would move to Ward 4. Ward 5 would absorb everything south of Waverly Road and one block of Sixth Street North to 11th Street North.
Under the alternate plan, white voters would be increased in Ward 1 from the council-approved 8.6 percent to 18.1. The black voter population would drop from 89.9 percent to 79.7 percent.
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor declined to comment, until after Monday’s public hearing.
Karriem said the basis of the second plan is to prevent racial stacking of the wards.
“The council’s plan is not equitable,” Karriem said. “There is a lot of packing of the wards. We don’t want wards leaning 90 percent either way. I feel the alternate plan is right all the way around.”
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box, who said he had not seen the alternate plan, accused Karriem of political grandstanding.
“(Karriem) has had several opportunities to discuss this with the council,” Box said Saturday. “Instead of talking with us, he’s tried to work his agenda through this newspaper. If this plan represents the community, what part of the white community did he include in his conversation?”
The alternate plan’s biggest changes are in Ward 2, where the number of white residents decreases almost 10 percentage points from 41.8 percent to 33.0 percent and the number of black residents increases almost ten points from 56.2 percent to 65.6 percent. It would decrease the population variance of Ward 2 from 2.99 to 1.22 percent. The alternate map would also cut the population variance to 48 people.
“What I support about this plan is that the Department of Justice says if a city is over 60 percent minority, then you can have four strong minority wards,” Mickens said Saturday. “The first plan didn’t give us four strong minority wards.”
Redistricting, whereby legislative or voting districts are redrawn, is mandated by the U.S. Department of Justice and falls under Section Five of The Voting Rights Act of 1965. In April, Watson said the city’s redistricting, “cannot make it worse for minority voters than the current plan. The minorities we are talking about in Columbus are African-Americans. Mississippi is a black and white state. Our goal is to get the population balanced in the wards.”
Karriem contends both the Lowndes County League of Voters and the Lowndes County Democratic Party are against the city’s map. Voter League President Tyrone Cunningham said he was against the city’s proposal, but did not say why he objected. Democratic Party Chairperson Cindy Lawrence did not responds to calls. Lavonne Harris, president of the Lowndes County NAACP said she had not seen either map but stated her organization would be carefully watching the situation.
“The function of the NAACP is to look at the map and make sure it is fair and equal across the board for the entire city,” Harris said. “The observation will be done to look at the total racial makeup of the wards. We also monitor the voting age population of each ward by getting a complete picture of the process. If the map presented (by the City Council) doesn’t seem fair, the NAACP will come in on the local and state level.”
All redistricting plans submitted Monday will be sent to the US Department of Justice. Watson said the council-approved plan will take precedent and it will be sent back to the council for further work if it is not approved.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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