Council to vote on 2 redistricting maps

GALVESTON — After the U.S. Department of Justice denied a request from the city to draw a 4-2-1 council redistricting plan, the city council narrowed the choices on Thursday to two maps with six single-member districts and a mayor elected at-large.

The council will vote to adopt one of the 6-1 plans Oct. 27 after a public hearing. The justice department could take at least 60 days to approve the plan, giving candidates about a month before filing for the May election starts.

Staff members with an Austin-based law firm still were revising the maps Thursday night after council members tweaked the lines during Thursday’s council workshop.

The maps, called “O revised” and “R revised,” should be available today.

Plan R boasts strong minority districts with lines drawn without incumbent consideration. Plan O is similar.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice denied a request from the city to draw a 4-2-1 council redistricting plan for the island.

The city asked the justice department to reconsider a plan with four council members from single-member districts, two at-large council members and a mayor elected at-large.

In a letter to the city, Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general, wrote that minority votes would be limited in the proposed 4-2-1 plan.

Bob Heath, an attorney with an Austin-based law firm, is working with the city on the maps, said the city council could ask for a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., but the legal action could be costly.

Also, the city’s chances of winning against the department were less than 50 percent, Heath said.

In redrawing district lines, the council has to try to adopt districts of equal size with identifiable boundaries that comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Representatives from Gulf Coast Interfaith, Northside Taskforce, the Galveston County Coalition for Justice, Galveston chapters of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of United Latin American Citizens, who opposed the 4-2-1 plan, are backing Plan R in which “easily comprehensible” lines are drawn.

“The Collaborating Organizations also recognized that to avoid gerrymandered districts, we had to eliminate as a requirement that lines be drawn to include the addresses of existing council members,” a letter of support from the representatives said.

Galveston’s population is at 47,743 residents and includes about 31 percent Hispanics and 19 percent African-Americans. For a 6-1 district, each district ideally should have about 8,000 residents.