Jackson Jambalaya

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors adopted one of four redistricting proposals submitted by Derrick Johnson last night. The plan splits Clinton in half and adds two precincts (approximately four thousand black voters) to District 1, increasing the black voting age population from 55% to 60% in that district (The current map, the accepted map, and the video of the entire meeting are posted below.). The courthouse was packed as over 150 people attended the meeting. All of the media showed up to cover the hearing as well.

The Board posted three proposed maps yesterday at the offices in downtown Jackson yesterday morning at 9:00 AM. However, the maps were not posted at the Raymond office until after 1:00 PM. To make matters worse, the proposal that was adopted last night, was NEVER made available for public viewing at any county offices or on the county website. The first time any member of the public viewed the plan was at 6:00 PM last night, when the meeting started.


The ideal amount of population for each district in this round of redistricting is 49,057. Census data showed each district had the following population:

District 1: 48,853
District 2: 46,312
District 3: 48,823
District 4: 53,396
District 5: 47,901

Districts 1, 3, and 5 are within the accepted deviation from the target of 49,057. Districts 2 and 4 require adjustment so as to meet redistricting goals. Theoretically speaking, a plan could move approximately three thousand people from District 4 to District 2 and meet the criteria of the required redistricting. Clinton is split in two as Learned, half of Raymond, and half of Clinton move into Doug Anderson's district.

However, the plan adopted last night places Precincts 39 and 41 in District 1. District 1 is only 204 voters below the goal of 49,057 yet the plan placed Precinct 39 (East of Hanging Moss to North State Street), 98% black with 1,030 voters and Precinct 41 (West of Hanging Moss to Watkins Drive), 99% black with 1,797 voters, into District 1 while transferring Precincts 1 and 5 (Belhaven Heights and downtown Jackson around High Street ) 50% black with 1,241 voters, into District 5. The black voting age population increased from 55% to 60% in District 1 as a result of the plan swapping two precincts approximately 50/50 black/white districts containing 1,241 voters with two precincts that were 99% black with 2,827 voters. yielding a difference of 1,586 votes (link for data used). One can surely bet Robert Graham loved this plan.

The plan makes the following changes in black voting age population (BVAP) in each district:

District 1: 55.73% to 59.42%
District 2: 73.07% to 67%
District 3: 88.35% to 87.94%
District 4: 45% to 45.2%
District 5: 71.12% to 69.48%

and the following population changes in each district:

District 1: 48,853 to 50,747
District 2: 46,312 to 46,715
District 3: 48,823 to 51,182
District 4: 53,396 to 48,635
District 5: 47,901 to 48,006

While it seems District 2 did not increase much in population even though it was the most deficient, it apparently satisfies redistricting criteria as the difference between the largest district and the smallest district have to be within 4,905 of each other. Mr. Johnson could have used two methods: calculate population totals that had to be no more than 5% above or below the target of 49,057 OR (which he apparently did) take the standard deviation of 10% (4,905) and redraw the districts so the largest and smallest were within 4,905.

So to recap this entire story. The Board of Supervisors did not place the matter of hiring Mr. Johnson for redistricting services or the matter of redistricting itself on the December 20, 2010 agenda. Mr. Graham moved and Mrs. Hobson-Calhoun seconded, the motion to hire Mr. Johnson and pay him a fee of $40,000 for redistricting services, twice the fee charged by Central Mississippi Planning & Development District. The Board then schedules a "public hearing" for February 22, 2011 for input on redistricting. No notice is placed on the county website, at the courthouse, or in the Clarion-Ledger. Notice was only placed twice in the Jackson Advocate, a small weekly circulation distributed primarily in the black community.

Mr. Johnson appears at the meeting with no plans, no maps, and no census data to present to the voters and gets very hostile when questioned by the public for his failure to provide this information. What little census data he does provide is found this past weekend to be in error as it was from the 1990's. The Board of Supervisors then does not make any plans available for public inspection until the day of the hearing and even then the plan adopted by the Board was never released to the public until the hearing started and was not placed on the county website until this morning. The Board adopts a plan that splits Clinton and two and instead of addressing the shortfall in District 2, focuses more on "blackening" Mr. Graham's district, which required no adjusting. Gotta love county politics.








Note: Check out this diatribe by Doug Anderson on WJTV's website about the prospect about gaining more white voters. Too bad the reporter didn't bother to ask him why he had a problem with having white voters. That was a golden opportunity to nail him. Of course, its a reporter, we're in a small market, its probably the reporter's first job, his station has cutbacks, blah blah blah, its not his fault. Guess its too much to expect a black reporter to ask a black Supervisor about his racist comments at WJTV.













Earlier posts on subject
 Clarion-Ledger drops the ball again
WLBT Editorial
Hearing set for Monday night
 Redistricting fireworks at Hinds BOS last night. Video of entire meeting.
WLBT coverage of redistricting meeting
Hinds redistricting meeting tonight More redistricting follies by Hinds Supes?  
Northside Sun covers hiring of Derrick Johnson
Hinds Supes sneak paying President of Mississippi NAACP into meeting