About a hundred people turned out for the last of four public hearings on redistricting Thursday at Raines High School on Jacksonville’s Northside.
The new voting districts will affect School Board and City Council elections for the next decade.
"I want to say with great humility and pride that this was the largest attendance at any meeting, and it's in District 10," Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson said.
Seven City Council members and two School Board members were at the hearing, including School Board President Darryl Willie and City Council President Sam Newby.
But it still remains a mystery whether council members will make any meaningful changes to the maps based on the numerous concerns community members brought forth during the month of hearings.
Council members largely silent
During public hearings this past month, Jacksonville residents have raised a range of concerns, including City Council members drawing the lines to favor their own reelection and racially gerrymandering districts in a way that dilutes the power of Black voters across Duval County.
Despite initially vowing to address issues raised at the first public hearing, council members largely remained silent at subsequent meetings, providing few justifications or updates to the community about their positions on the proposed maps.
Paige Johnston, with Jacksonville's Office of General Counsel, said council members' silence reflects how they've interpreted the city's redistricting ordinance.
"The ordinance code sets out the process for redistricting, and it specifically provides that this is an opportunity for the public to speak to the council, for the council members to listen and deliberate on the comments that are made and to take that into consideration when it's time for them to consider the maps," Johnston said. "So at this point, it's not proper for the council members to respond to questions."
While Johnston didn’t think the lack of council feedback was improper, the city's ordinance doesn't actually specify whether or not council members may respond.
However, because of council members' choice not to respond, members of the public have brought up the same concerns at multiple meetings, with no clear direction about how the feedback would be implemented.
Now, the Rules Committee's five members must respond to the public’s comments. They will either propose amendments to the draft maps next month or vote on the maps as they are.
"It is anticipated that the Rules Committee will address any proposed amendments at the Rules Committee meeting on March 1, 2022," Priestly Jackson told attendees at Thursday's hearing.
Depending on whether amendments are filed, there could be further public hearings in March before the full council votes on the maps by mid-April.
Criticism on many fronts
Racial gerrymandering: One concern residents raised repeatedly during public hearings is that packing Black voters into four districts — as the proposed map does — violates the city charter’s requirement for geographically compact districts, and may break federal law.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act, cities must analyze whether minority communities are able to elect candidates of their choice. If not, they must draw voting districts that ensure equal representation.
Experts say Jacksonville drew majority-Black voting districts without analyzing data and, in effect, diluted the influence of Black voters throughout the city.
As first reported by The Tributary, a group of civil rights organizations commissioned a report from a professor at the University of Texas, Austin about racially polarized voting in Jacksonville. They say the city should have performed this analysis, by federal law, before packing Black voters into four districts.
The groups threatened "legal problems" if council approves the maps as they are.
The president of the Democratic Women's Information Network, Jessica Ransome, told council members Thursday that one of her organization’s largest concerns is "the packing of the Black voters in City Council Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10, which protects incumbents in these areas at the expense of Black voters' influence throughout the city."
Self-interest: Many residents also have accused council members of drawing districts that ensure their own reelection.
"Council members should look beyond creating a plan that protects their own seats," Northside Coalition representative Ben Frazier said Thursday. "The plan should allow the people to pick the politicians and not the other way around."
According to Johnston, from general counsel's office, courts have not ruled on partisan gerrymandering or drawing maps with political party as a consideration.
But the city's ordinance does require the council to prioritize"compactness and contiguity, so that the people of the City, and their varied economic, social and ethnic interests and objectives, are adequately represented in the Council."
The proposed maps will also affect School Board member districts, though School Board members do not have a vote in how the maps are drawn.
A flawed process: More than a dozen residents have raised concerns during the public hearings about the council's process in creating the maps.
The proposed maps were developed last fall by council members and city staffers, largely without public input.
Dr. Jennifer Cowart, a District 11 resident, told council members Thursday that she wants the process to include "more engaging with the community, an independent advisory board — as so many have already said — and truly a chance to look at representation for our community instead of preserving the status quo."
A recent UNF poll of Duval voters found 85% of respondents also believe an independent panel should draw new City Council maps, not the council itself, as currently practiced. Asked whether they trust City Council to draw districts fairly, 89% said not very much or not at all.
“Given recent challenges to the City Council’s redistricting procedures, it’s not surprising that folks don’t have a lot of trust in the process,” Michael Binder, director of UNF's Public Opinion Research Lab, wrote in an emailed statement.
Additional concerns
The concerns outlined above are just a few of the critiques residents have given during the month of hearings.
Video footage of the hearings, and minutes outlining other points residents brought forth, are available on the city's website.
WJCT News reporter Ray Tronosco contributed to this report.
