Public meetings to spell out boundary formulas for redistricting

The work to develop a redistricting plan for Franklin County began in earnest on Monday, Feb. 14 with the first of three public hearings designed to outline the process and gain public input in formulating future boundaries for local elections.

Attorney Ben Griffith of Oxford opened the initial session, which focused on the legalities of redistricting, and outlined why the county goes through the effort following the federal decennial census.

“Sometimes, there is not a need to redistrict every decade because the population has not changed enough,” Griffith said. “But, when it changes so much in any one census and the population difference between the largest and smallest districts is greater than 10 percent, then redistricting must be done.

“That’s basically your standard and the process begins to bring the count of people into alignment by seeking equal population numbers in each district — in line with one person-one vote guidelines.”

Griffith said this principle applies to jurisdictions at the local, state and federal levels and is a key component in the democratic process of choosing and electing representatives for offices from supervisor to Congress.

Kate Dorion, a project and data manager Flo Analytics, joined the meeting via computer connection from her office in Maine and noted her firm collects numbers — a process that has been under way for the past few weeks — to determine local population changes since the recent census.

She said Flo Analytics serves local governments and school districts across the United States and takes a data-driven, impartial approach in spearheading the redistricting initiative.

Her group, in conjunction with Griffith, is presently doing similar redistricting work for neighboring Amite County.

“We will use (the latest census numbers) and pull in information from the county and the community to develop draft maps and make revisions that satisfy the requirements that are part of the redistricting process,” Dorion said.

“Between now and the next public hearing in a month, we will take all local input received into consideration and that will lead to a first round of maps. We hope to have a final draft plan in place by early April, and will seek to make this a fair and transparent process every step of the way.”

Dorion said benchmarks that are part of the redistricting effort call for districts to be “population balanced,” meaning each county beat will need to have generally the same number of people, be contiguous and in compliance with existing laws including federal Voting Rights Act statutes.

“Other requirements with redistricting prohibit favoring or disfavoring a protected class or political party, and district boundaries should be as compact as possible,” she added.

“We know districts are not going to be perfect squares, but should be as compact as we can get them.

“Additionally, communities of interest along with existing man-made and geographic boundaries play a role in the process.”

Dorion said much of her firm’s work of late has been focusing on population changes within each of Franklin County’s five districts between the 2010 and 2020 census counts.

“We’re going to have a district that has the most number people and a district that has the least number people in the draft maps, and the difference (in population) between those must be less than 10 percent,” she added.

“In your last plan after the 2010 census, you were at a 6.7 percent difference between the largest and smallest districts and that was great as you were in compliance.

“When we started to look at the 2020 census, that data — when viewed with the existing district boundaries — has Franklin County at a 19.9 percent (population difference), which is the reason we have to do this.

“Populations change, but not always in the same place. We will be looking at all the districts when we focus on possible boundary changes.”

Griffith said the next redistricting public hearing will be held at 2 p.m., Monday, March 14 in the main courtroom on the second floor of the Franklin County Courthouse in Meadville.

The session will spotlight details on proposed boundaries that could come into play during future local elections for offices like supervisor, school board, election commission and constables.

“That meeting will have proposed plans that supervisors and the public can look at, and Flo Analytics can answer questions about what’s best, where the communities of interest lie, why one plan is better than another and what are the alternatives,” he continued.

“More than anything, the input of Franklin County citizens is vital because they live here and what they know about their communities of interest and the practical things that bind people together like their churches, water associations and fire districts.

“If you look at Franklin County, you want to see these communities, but you also want to make certain — from a legal standpoint — that you can keep as many of people together in one district as you possibly can.”

Griffith said the plan for the March hearing is to have maps that can viewed to gain important feedback before any boundary changes are ultimately adopted by county leaders — possibly as early as April.
“The third and final hearing, which will be held at 2 p.m., Monday, April 4, will mark the close of the public comment period on redistricting,” he went on to say.

“The Board of Supervisors will then be asked to select a new redistricting plan based on the latest census data and the information they have been provided by their demographics experts and counsel.”

In the end, Griffith said the ultimate goal will be to minimize division among residents and build consensus as to the best interests of the county’s population for the next decade.

Griffith said public comments can be shared through email by contacting Franklin County Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert at jgilbert@franklincountyms.com, by taking part in any future public hearing on the matter or by offering viewpoints during any regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Supervisors held on the first and third Mondays of each month.