JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville City Council on Tuesday voted 17-1 in favor of a redistricting plan that sets boundaries for its members.
There isn’t much of a change. The new maps were expected to pass without very little council opposition. But some members of the public have been crying foul, saying by not changing the districts much, it’s unfair to minorities in the city who have shifted to other parts of town.
For the last five months, we’ve seen council members go over these maps that outline who represents you in city government. It’s a process they do every 10 years with the census. While the city has grown to nearly 1 million people in the last census count, the proposed maps don’t show any big changes.
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There are 14 districts, and while there are not a lot of changes to the proposed map, where we would see some of the biggest changes are to council districts 2, 7 and 8.
Daniel Henry, chairman of the Duval Democratic Party, says these maps don’t represent the city and actually dilute the Black voice in Jacksonville.
“The fact that they thought the easiest thing for them to do is just keep everything the same when Jacksonville has changed over the course of the last decade, when we have over 1 million people that live here now. To have the same mentality that African-American voters only live in 7, 8, 9 and 10, I think that is a dichotomy that needs to change, and the public is screaming out for council to listen to that,” Henry said.
But Dean Black, chairman of the Duval County Republican Party, says the opposite. Black issued the following statement:
“After months of bipartisan work: the City Council completed its once a decade task of redistricting. The Rules Committee has created a final product formulated after many hours of neighborhood meetings, public comments and debate. The Duval GOP looks forward to the final Council vote.”
While the vote passed Tuesday night, that doesn’t mean it’s over. Local groups like the NAACP say it’s more than likely it will be challenged in court and a judge will determine if it’s fair or not.