The city’s redistricting committee concluded its work on Wednesday, with the 10 members recommending a map reconfiguring the six single-member districts for city council representation after a month-long process of discussions, reviewing draft maps and studying population-demographic tables.
The decision to recommend Draft Map B, which mostly came about from the committee’s review and input, came after a public comment period and a Wednesday evening public hearing.
“The process is designed to give the public an opportunity to review redistricting and how we do it,” said Atanacio Campos, who represented District 3 and served as chairman of the committee. “We do this every 10 years. We take a snapshot of the community and then we decide how we can take all of these different districts and make them equal. ‘One man, one vote’ is what’s important to us.”
Campos added that the committee preferred map B because “of the discussions we had and the concerns each district had about how we were going to equalize it.”
“I think everyone came to a consensus very quickly,” he said.
The map will now go before the New Braunfels City Council for consideration next month.
As all district boundaries were redrawn on the recommended map, some residents could find themselves in a different council district from before.
According to Rezzin Pullum, an associate attorney with the Austin-based Bojorquez Law Firm, the consultant working with the city on the redistricting process, goals include giving each city council district roughly 15,062 residents and ensuring minority voting rights are protected.
An exact equality of population is not required, according to Pullum, but a total maximum deviation of no more than 10% in total population between the most heavily populated and the least populated council member districts should be achieved based on the most recent census to complete a legally sound redistricting plan.
Draft Map B contains a deviation of 3.6%, and according to Pullum, the recommended map does not indicate any “substantial retrogression” in minority voting power.
Under Draft Map B, District 1 would have 82 more people with a population of 15,105. District 2 would have 6,146 fewer people for a population of 14,890 and District 3 would have 1,711 more people with a population of 15,051.
District 4 would have 1,707 fewer people under Draft Map B for a population of 15,281, District 5 would have 1,129 more people for a population of 15,291, and District 6 would have 4,931 more people for a population of 14,752.
“The process for the city of New Braunfels was tailored for the citizens of New Braunfels,” Pullum said. “It was made a lot smoother through the work and actions of the redistricting committee. They really came together and engaged with all the data and demographics that we had to present to them. With having some former council members and citizens that have already been involved with local politics, it made it easy to identify where and what we needed to change in the redistricting process.”
Under current boundaries and 2020 Census figures, District 2, which includes the southern and southeastern parts of the city, mainly in Guadalupe County, is the largest district by population, with 21,036 residents, 5,974 people over the target population, a deviation of 39.67%. In contrast, District 6, which includes the central part of town, is the smallest district, with 9,821 residents, 5,241 people below the target population, a deviation of minus 34.79%.
According to Pullum, that added up to a total maximum deviation of 74.46%, prompting the redistricting process.
District 1, the southwestern part of the city, is closest to the ideal population with 15,062 residents, while District 3, the northwestern area, contains 13,340 residents. District 4, which includes areas in the north and northeastern parts of the city, has 16,988 residents and District 5, which includes downtown and locations on the eastern side of the city, has 14,162 people.
According to the 2020 Census, New Braunfels’ population is 90,370 residents, increasing about 56.5% from the 2010 count of 57,740.
Pullum had told committee members that he was “very confident that (map B) meets all of the legal criteria.”
The draft maps, as well as population and demographic tables, have been published on the city’s website for public review at www.nbtexas.org/redistricting.
Data from the 2020 Census of the community’s changing demographics are being used to redraw local, state and national voting districts and will determine control of both houses of the U.S. Congress, Texas Legislature, as well as city and county governments beginning with the 2022 elections.
Redistricting is prompted by the need to satisfy the legal principle of “one person-one vote,” a requirement stemming from the United States Constitution.
It requires that members of an elected body who are elected from single-member districts have districts that are of substantially equal population.
In January, council members will hold their own public hearing on the recommended redistricting map and adopt the final map by ordinance, which requires two separate readings.
City officials expect members to adopt the final map ordinance before Jan. 19 in order for the redistricting maps to apply to the May 2022 municipal election. Jan. 19 is the first day a candidate can file for seats representing District 1 and 2 on the council.
