Bude leaders discuss plan to redistrict town's wards

The effort to bring Bude’s population — particularly its ward boundaries — in line with federal 2020 Census tally totals took another step forward on Tuesday, March 7 as Toby Sanford of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District in Starkville talked numbers in a face-to-face meeting with the town leaders.

Sanford, who serves as the GTPDD’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) manager, displayed maps of the town and shared data regarding the most current census blocks, the means by which the municipal population was tabulated by the federal government.

“Every 10 years, the United States Census Bureau is tasked with counting the population and you, as the town’s governing body, have to re-evaluate your political boundaries to make sure they are not out of line with the number of people living within your town,” Sanford said.

“The 2020 count has 780 people living in Bude and the means of getting your ideal representative split of the population in your established boundaries is taking that total number of residents and dividing it among your four ward seats.”

Sanford pointed out Bude’s ideal population per ward based on the 2020 Census is 195 residents, and that redistricting — an alteration of ward boundaries — was necessary because the latest population numbers were not currently in line with accepted one man-one vote guidelines.

Bude’s form of government has five aldermen — four of which are chosen from single-member voting districts while one representative is selected at-large to represent the entire municipality as is the mayor.

Here is a breakdown of Bude’s most recent census totals presented by Sanford:

Ward 1 — 234 residents (39 residents or 20 percent above the ideal ward population).

Ward 2 — 246 residents (51 residents or 26.15 percent above the ideal ward population).

Ward 3 — 174 residents (21 residents or 10.77 percent below the ideal ward population).

Ward 4 — 126 residents (69 residents or 35.38 percent below the ideal ward population).

“If you take the most populated district and the least populated district and convert the size differences to a percentage (or variance) and add those numbers (forgetting the negative) ... if that final calculation is greater than 10 percent, then you are mandated to undergo redistricting,” Sanford said.

“Based on these calculations, Bude’s sitting at 61.54 percent difference right now and that means there will have to be a change in ward lines to better reflect the make-up of the town before the next municipal election.”

Sanford said the solution would come by reaching a consensus in moving a select number of people to different wards to bring the population totals to a more balanced state that falls below a 10 percent variance.

“We know that Wards 1 and 2 need to give up some people and that will have to be done through looking at census blocks. If you look at shifting populations between wards, it requires moving an entire census block … you can’t just pluck people here and there and move them around,” he continued.

Sanford said the goal for his organization in helping redistrict Bude’s political boundaries is to meet established federal and state standards involving population balance and Voting Rights Act compliance.

Consideration in redistricting also involves elements such as “communities of interest,” described as a group of people with a common interest (usually, these include social, cultural, racial, ethnic and economic interests); compactness; contiguous boundaries; and avoiding policies that would negatively impact race or ethnicity.

An additional consideration is that no sitting board member can be moved out of the district he or she currently represents through redistricting.

“This process is a delicate balance and will be a challenge — especially in a small town — to reach the ideal population for each ward,” Sanford said.

“The reality is we might not hit the ideal numbers, but as long as there is less than a 10 percent variance in the size between the largest and smallest wards we would meet our redistricting mandates.”

Sanford said there are not an infinite number of ways to move census blocks, but once recommendations have been vetted by Bude’s leadership, he would go back and create before-and-after maps to show boundary alterations to demonstrate changes that might be implemented before the next election cycle.

Once a redistricting plan gains favor, the board will be required to host a public hearing to allow residents of the community to view the proposed changes and express their opinions either in favor of or in opposition to the proposed boundary shifts.

Following that hearing, the board will have to formally adopt a final redistricting plan — hopefully sooner rather than later, according to Sanford, so that alternations can be submitted to the appropriate governmental entities before the next round of municipal voting in 2025.

No official timetable for a public hearing was announced at the meeting at town hall, but a session will be forthcoming after Sanford has time to review feedback provided by the Bude board in moving select census blocks to more evenly balance the town’s population.

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors and Franklin County Board of Education have already adopted their respective redistricting beat boundary plans as has the Mississippi Legislature for its Senate and House of Representative district seats in the wake of the 2020 Census findings.

Meadville and Roxie, as Franklin County’s other two incorporated municipalities, do not have to go through redistricting as their respectively small populations allow each of the towns’ five aldermen to run at large and not by district every four years.