County redistricting in full swing as public hearings begin

The three proposed maps for Pinal County's five new supervisor districts was the topic this morning at a breakfast held at the Windmill Winery in Florence by Pinal Partnership, a coalition of business, education and government leaders.

The maps were drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission, a five-member nonpartisan body that also is drawing new boundaries for the state's Congressional districts. The state Constitution requires the commissioners – two Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent chair – to start from scratch rather than redraw existing districts.

The first two Pinal County maps are similar, with Maricopa in a new fifth district with Casa Grande and a large rural strip along the southern border of the county. The third map is radically different, with Maricopa in a fourth district without Casa Grande but including vast rural areas to the west and south of the city (click here to view maps).

While Pinal County is still primarily a rural county, it’s population, thanks in large part to the explosive growth of Maricopa and Queen Creek, now exceeds the 175,000 threshold requiring an expansion of its board of supervisors. The population is 375,770, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

By state law, the county now is required to add two more supervisor districts – increasing the Board of Supervisors from three members to five.

Historically, two of those three districts have been majority-minority, meaning that Hispanics and Native Americans outnumbered whites.

District 3, which includes the cities of Maricopa and Casa Grande, is a majority-minority district led by Supervisor David Snider, a Democrat.
With the addition of two new districts, the demographics of whichever new district Maricopa will be in could change. It is possible whites could outnumber Hispanics and Native Americans in the new district and a Republican could be elected the supervisor in the 2012 General Election.

Arizona is one of nine states under the jurisdiction of the federal 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. The other eight states are Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

The law requires any changes to an election in those states — even just adding a new precinct — must be approved by the U.S. Justice Department.

A series of public hearings begins tonight in Casa Grande for public input on the maps. The meeting in Maricopa will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at the Maricopa Unified School District Office, 44150 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. The last meeting is in San Manuel on Sept. 29.

"The goal is to have the public hearings wrapped up by the first supervisors meeting in October," said Steve Kizer, elections director for Pinal County.

The county will then decide which map and proposal to submit to the Justice Department, which has 60 days to either approve it or require a new proposal.

Kizer said he doesn't expect a quick response from the army of attorneys in Washington, D.C.

"My past experience with the DOJ is it always takes them about six weeks to get back to you," he said.

For anyone thinking about running for county office in Pinal County, Kizer advised to wait until after the new districts are drawn to gather ballot signatures to ensure the signatures’ validity.

The good news for office seekers, Kizer said, is now that the county's population is more than 200,000, by state law office seekers in Pinal County only need one half of one percent to get on the ballot.