Hispanic, 15 black districts proposed

— Secretary of State Mark Martin has published proposed maps of 16 House districts where a minority group makes up the majority of the population. One of those would be a majority Hispanic district that snakes from Springdale to Rogers.

Martin, Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel make up the Board of Apportionment, which is responsible for drawing new House and Senate district boundaries based on the 2010 Census. Beebe and McDaniel are Democrats, Martin is a Republican.

The board has a final vote scheduled for 9:30 a.m. July 29 at the Capitol.

Currently there are 13 House districts that have a majority-black population and four majority black Senate districts. They are all located in the Delta and the center of the state.

Arkansas has never had a majority Hispanic district.

Martin’s director of community outreach, Mark Myers, said the office is checking to find out if a majority Hispanic district is necessary given the population growth in the Northwest Arkansas area.

“If there’s a legal requirement to do it, then we’ll do what’s legally required,” Myers said.

He could not say whether Martin supported creating an Hispanic majority district or if he felt legally obligated to create one.

The census showed that Arkansas’ Hispanic population grew from 3.2 percent of the state’s population in 2000 to 6.4 percent, or 186,050, in 2010.

Arkansas’ black population dropped from 15.58 percent of the population in 2000 to 15.33 percent in 2010. The state population grew 9.1 percent. Arkansas currently has 11 black House and four black Senate members.

Martin’s map would increase the number of black majority House districts to 15.

Myers said the number of such districts should increase to accurately represent the state’s black population.

In central Arkansas much of North Little Rock would be in one district and most of Little Rock divided into three majority black Senate districts. Another district would range from Jacksonville to the southern border of Pulaski County. Three more districts would be clustered around Pine Bluff, one of which would stretch through most of Arkansas County.

Six districts range along the Mississippi River through Chicot, Cross, Crittenden, Desha, Lee, Phillips, Mississippi, Monroe and St. Francis counties. Another, labeled District 17, takes in parts of Calhoun, Columbia, Nevada and Ouachita counties.

The governor and attorney general have both said they are looking to see what the numbers allow before they make a decision on districts where the majority of the population belongs to a minority group.

Some senators said they did not want to speak publicly about the boundaries on the governor’s proposed Senate map that was released Wednesday because they were afraid it would hurt their chances of getting the governor to change his mind.

Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, RCabot, said he is hopeful that the governor will “tweak” the districts a little bit.

“Until there really is a final map, I’m hopeful. If it’s a new district, so be it, but we’ll see. I’m going to do my best to visit with the governor,” Williams said.

Williams’ district would be made of part of Lonoke, Pulaski and White counties under Beebe’s map. He now represents all of Lonoke and Prairie counties and parts of both Arkansas and Pulaski counties.

Other legislators said they would manage with whatever the board decides.

Freshman Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said she thinks she could win re-election in the district Beebe drew.

“I was a newcomer then and I forged the ground and forged new territories and relationships, and if I’m a newcomer again, it’s not going to make a big difference for me. I don’t see a problem with me winning again in whatever district they draw me in. I feel strongly about my qualifications,” Irvin said.

Irvin lives in Stone County, which under the governor’s map is in a district with Baxter, Cleburne, Faulkner, Fulton, Marion, Searcy, Van Buren and White counties.

Her current district includes Fulton, Izard, Randolph, Sharp, Stone counties and part of Independence County.

Beebe spokesman Matt De-Cample said the reaction to the map is not unusual.

“Some people are happy, some people want some small tweaks here and there, and some people are frustrated,” DeCample said. “That’s what we'd expect with any map.”

Republican Party spokesman Katherine Vasilos said state GOP leaders are still reviewing the map and aren’t prepared to comment.

On Thursday the secretary of state’s office sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Board of Apportionment for a copy of Beebe’s map and proof that there is only a 1 percent population variance between districts. DeCample said Wednesday that the population in the districts varied by less than 1 percent.

Myers said he had the request sent because he didn’t believe that the districts vary by such a small amount and because he was told by board director Joe Woodson, Jr. that the board couldn’t provide proof.

“We were stunned when we were told this morning that we couldn’t have it,” Myers said. “We were completely floored.”

Woodson said he doesn’t have access to the computer the map was designed on. He did not provide proof of the variance to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

DeCample said the map is still being worked on and the final details are not complete. He said the variance information has not been made available to the board. He said that likely would be done Tuesday.

“They’re not done yet, we’re still working on the neighborhood precinct levels,” DeCample said. “We’ll turn them in when they’re done, and then everyone in the world can have them.”

The maps are available online at arkansasredistricting.org.

Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/15/2011

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