County approves redistricting map

If the U.S. Department of Justice stamps its approval, the cities of Maricopa and Casa Grande will be in different Pinal County districts.

Upon recommendation of the Pinal County Elections Office, the Board of Supervisors approved today a map and supporting analysis to submit to the DOJ that divides the county into five supervisor districts.

The DOJ has 60 days to respond to the proposal.

Pinal County currently has three supervisor districts, but by state law must add two more because the county’s population is more than 175,000. Currently, 375,770 people live in Pinal County, double from 2000.

Of the three maps that were presented during a series of nine public hearings in September, Draft Map 3, which splits the county’s two most populated cities into separate districts, received the broadest support. The first two maps kept the cities together in one district.

If approved by the DOJ, Maricopa will be in a fourth district that includes vast rural areas to the west and south of the city. The map was revised slightly to accommodate the concerns of residents of Queen Valley, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and Coolidge.

The DOJ will scrutinize the map to ensure that the proposed districts comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was enacted one year after the landmark Civil Right Acts to reverse decades of unfair representation of minorities in elections.

Arizona is one of nine states under the act’s jurisdiction.

Historically, two of three supervisor districts in Pinal County have been majority-minority, meaning that Hispanics and Native Americans outnumbered whites. District 3, which presently includes Maricopa and Casa Grande, is a majority-minority district led by Democrat David Snider. The DOJ will require that two of the five new districts be majority-minority.

Snider said today difficult choices had to be made and considered to reach a decision.

“The preponderance of public sentiment seemed to be behind Map 3,” he said. “It will service the citizens well for next 10 years.”

Snider said he plans to run for reelection in 2012. However, if Map 3 is ultimately approved he can no longer represent Maricopa.

Asked whether he sees losing Maricopa voters as a negative or a positive, Snider said he wasn’t sure.

“I enjoy representing Maricopa, Ak-Chin and the Tohono O’odham Nation,” he said. “It has been a pleasure for seven years and will be for an eighth. Whether this works for me or against me I am not sure. At the end of 2012 those areas will still be mine as supervisor.”

Even if those areas are no longer in his district, Snider said he will still support them.