Commission, School Board Work To Redraw Voting Districts

July 12, 2011

The Escambia County Commission and School Board left a Monday meeting with proposed redistricting maps.

Following the recent release of 2010 Census numbers that show a population shift into the Cantonment area of the county, both the Escambia County Commission and the School District were forced to redraw district boundaries.

Escambia County is divided into five different voting districts, each represented by a county commissioner and school board member.

According to County Administrator Randy Oliver, the districts must be redrawn in such a manner that the population difference between the smallest district and the largest district is no more than five-percent.

All of the districts will be predominantly white, with the exception of District 3, which will remain predominantly black.

The ideal district, with one-fifth of the population, would have 59,524 residents. Districts 4 and 5 will be slightly larger than “ideal” by about 1,000 people.

Both the school board and commission will hold public hearings on the proposed changes later this month.

Data released earlier this year by the U.S. Census Bureau showed a  population shift into the area between Barrineau Park and 9 Mile roads. That area, called the Cantonment Census County Division, saw a population increase of 15.8% (6,901 people)  while the other three divisions in the county saw a population decrease of 1.4 to 3 percent. Overall, the county experienced a very slight 1 percent increase during the decade as the population increased from 294,410  in 2000 to 297,619 in 2010.

Comments

2 Responses to “Commission, School Board Work To Redraw Voting Districts”

  1. dnutjob1 on July 12th, 2011 4:22 pm

    Voting Age Population.

  2. Max on July 12th, 2011 3:42 pm

    What’s a “VAP”?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News