Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have tried to warn the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) that Chair Colleen Mathis' "working" map adopted last Tuesday in Tucson does not work. It will not meet DOJ preclearance, and it will be subject to challenges in court from Voting Rights Act stakeholders.
Mathis' "working" map was adopted without any public testimony and without hearing from Voting Rights Act stakeholders such as the Hispanic community and Tribal Nations. There has been substantial opposition in public testimony to Colleen Mathis' "working" map since this ill-considered decision to adopt her "working" map, yet the Chair continues to persist in the error of her way.
Just as I warned would occur, the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government has sent the Commission a letter this weekend (sorry, no link) warning the map they're using as a working draft will violate the Voting Rights Act that protects minority voters. Hispanics denounce draft map of districts:
A Hispanic advocacy group sent a letter this weekend to the five volunteers redrawing Arizona's political maps, warning the map they're using as a working draft will violate the Voting Rights Act that protects minority voters.
The chairwoman of the state's Independent Redistricting Commission, independent Colleen Mathis, has said her No. 1 goal is to pass a review by the U.S. Department of Justice on the first try.
That won't happen, says the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government, which says the map the commission voted last week to use as a baseline "would ultimately impermissibly frustrate the ability of Hispanics to elect a candidate of their choice."
The crux of their concern lies in the Tucson area. Pima County, in the new version of the map, would still be split in two – just as now, the city is split between Democratic U.S. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Raúl Grijalva.
It also maintains Grijalva's district as a "majority minority" district. But the dividing line in the new version essentially follows Interstate 10, pulling midtown, downtown, and the university area out of Grijalva's district and feeding it into the one represented now by Giffords.
Part of what that does is dilute the clout of Pima County in the district, shifting more power to the Phoenix parts of the district.
In a letter signed by Democratic Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías on behalf of the coalition, the group said that will reduce Pima County's ability to elect a candidate from here, disenfranchising this area's Hispanic residents.
"Tucson has long been a cradle of Hispanic leadership and has been deeply active in all levels of government," the letter says. Moving more of the city out of the majority-minority district "deprives those who have always had a voice, ignores the historical and current contribution and silences the largest concentration of Hispanics in Southern Arizona," it says.
* * *
The Hispanic coalition's attorneys sent a letter asking for a meeting in Tucson this week before the commission's release of the draft maps. The commission intends to take the maps out for public comment the week of Oct. 10.
Peter Yucupicio, chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Council, said he doesn't like the map, either, particularly losing more clout to Phoenix, and the council is likely to send its own letter of opposition soon. "We don't feel someone from that area knows the real issues of Southern Arizona, and I think they would end up catering to the Phoenix area more."
I would anticipate that the Tohono O'odham, Navajo, Hopi and Apache Nations will also object to this map in support of the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Council.
These Voting Rights Act stakeholder groups were working together and making progress on a congressional map before Chair Colleen Mathis short-circuited the process with her insistence on her ill-conceived "working" map — something she could impose only because she holds all the cards with her vote — a map that has generated substantial public opposition.
Chair Colleen Mathis should abandon her stubborn insistence on having her way with her ill-conceived "working" map and return to the "River District-Navajo Nation Map 8a" negotiated between the Hispanic Coalition for Good Government and the Tribal Nations. This is a map that provides for competitive districts and protects Voting Rights Act districts. It is a map in which the Commission could be proud of its work. It is likely to receive DOJ preclearance, and will not invite litigation from these Voting Rights Act stakeholder groups.
Your testimony against the Chair's "working" map is requested. The AIRC is meeting on Monday in Tempe:
October 3, 2011
Fiesta Resort – Galleria Ballroom
2100 S. Priest Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85282
9:00 A.M.
Comment online Public Input
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