TITLE
Title
HOLD PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER COUNTY REDISTRICTING MAPS
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
County Attorney Mark Payne
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BACKGROUND
Background
North Carolina law requires the Board of Commissioners to redraw its districts when the population of these districts become substantially unequal (see NCGS 153A-22). The 2020 Census data, which Guilford County has recently received, clearly demonstrates that the population in our current districts are, in fact, substantially unequal and must be redrawn.
One of the accepted methods to determine substantial inequality is to determine the difference from the median population for the county's districts. A difference of 10% is deemed to automatically require redistricting. In Guilford County, the median population for a district is 67,622. In other words, if all eight (8) districts had the exact same population, each district would have 67,622 people.
In our current Board of County Commissioner districts, there is over a 20% difference between districts four (4) and five (5), which is more than twice the standard for requiring redistricting. Pursuant to the statute, Guilford County must create new districts which “are as nearly equal [in population] as practicable, and each district shall be composed of territory within a continuous boundary.”
During its October 21, 2021 regular meeting, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners selected five (5) proposed redistricting maps that met their adopted redistricting criteria. A public hearing has been scheduled to receive public input on the maps prior to adoption of a single redistricting map.
Maps under review can be found on the County's website at www.guilfordcountync.gov or through a direct link at https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/our-county/board-of-commissioners/board-of-commissioners-redistricting.
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Conduct a public hearing to receive public input on selected redistricting maps.
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