In a special Zoom meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to not redraw precinct districts Friday, Nov. 12.
Allison, Bass & Magee attorney Frank Reilly explained the results of the 2020 Census and how it could affect precinct districts.
“Following the Supreme Court decision in Avery v. Midland County, Texas, Commissioners Courts have been required to make a periodic assessment of their political boundaries to determine whether the boundaries retain ‘one-person-one-vote balance,” said Reilly.
“This requirement is now carried forward by the statutory requirement in Article 42.001 of the Texas Election Code.
“Redistricting is required when there is a 10% or greater deviation between the largest and smallest precinct populations in a county,” he explained.
“Really, most counties look at redistricting at 5% deviation and Matagorda County is below that. Your total population was recorded as 36,255.
“So, for four precincts divided equally that’d be about 9,064 per precinct.”
Reilly said that Precinct 1 had the highest population count with 9,240 and Precinct 4 had the lowest with 8,876.
“Between those two you’re looking at roughly 4% in deviation,” he explained.
“You’re in great shape in regards to the 14th Amendment with one-person-one-vote. That means there is no legal reason to redistrict.”
Precinct 2 had a reported population of 8,963 while Precinct 3 had 9,176.
Commissioners voiced concerns for constables and justice of the peace precincts and whether those needed to be re-drawn as well.
“The state of Texas does not enforce population balances for JPs or constables,” explained Reilly.
“Therefore, the county would not be required to do so.”
“I always assumed that they had to be balanced based on population, too,” said County Judge Nate McDonald.
“It’s good to know that we don’t have to redraw for them. We are blessed with some amazing public servants in our county.”
“I think Mr. Reilly did a good job of explaining everything to us,” added Precinct 4 Commissioner Bubba Frick.
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