PRINCE EDWARD – It's not quite a completed process, but Prince Edward is well on its way to approving a redistricting plan some three weeks ahead of schedule.

The County's three-member advisory committee presented a recommendation Tuesday evening and the Board of Supervisors agreed to advertise a public hearing on the proposal for their March 8 meeting.

There will be some changes-as there usually are with growth/shifts in population data as detailed with a census, but at a glimpse the eight electoral districts would appear roughly as they currently exist.

Advisory committee member Paul Hoffman detailed at the Tuesday evening presentation that the committee “basically adopted the same philosophy that you instructed us to do” and outlined that they put a high emphasis on equalizing potential populations; put a lot of emphasis on contiguous boundaries (especially using boundaries that were readily identifiable, known to the community); put a strong focus on not having any retrogression of the minority popularity, especially those districts that have historically had minority majorities; had a goal of keeping polling places in their districts, and a goal of not redistricting supervisors out of their districts.

“We had some challenges,” Hoffman told the board. “The first and foremost challenge was what we…call the Longwood problem where the Census Bureau put virtually all of the Longwood student population in two census blocks – approximately 201 High Street – which meant that they weren't really distributed over the geography of the Longwood campus as they actually live, but they were sorta artificially lumped into these two blocks. Also, the Longwood population, at about 2,400, really skewed the population of the Farmville District, so we had a big adjustment to make there…in order to equalize the population.”

That, Hoffman also cited, had impacts on the Farmville Center District (801), which has been a historically minority majority or at least close to such district. Adding a large number of student population – approximately 1,400 – weights that district to approximately 66 percent white in terms of its demographics.

While Hoffman said “that would not have been our highest and best goal” he offered that they “feel, in terms of those people most likely to turn out to vote, that demographics of that particular district are probably a lot closer to balance than it appears numerically on paper.”

The recommended plan places one of the Longwood census blocks in the Farmville District and the other in the Center District. That, Hoffman detailed, had “lots of cascade ripple effects throughout the rest of the districts.”

(It was cited that County officials have contacted Longwood and asked for data that was provided to the Census Bureau for the April 2010 population of the dorms, per dorm, and to provide a breakdown demographically. Assistant County Administrator Sarah Puckett noted that they will need to report the non-institutional population versus the institutional population in terms of the demographics because it will be significant for the voting population and that will be something that will be noted for the Department of Justice report.)

The proposed redrawn lines equalize the population in the districts, with a range of 78 people with the lowest district coming in 45 under the perfect target (2,921), the highest is 33 over.

“It should be noted that the minority population in the County dropped from 2000 to 2010 and what we strove to do was to ensure that there was no retrogression from the districts as currently drawn based on 2010 population numbers,” Hoffman said.

The percentage of minority representation increased, drawing on those numbers, from 38.42 percent to 40.15 in the Lockett District, 46.2 percent to 50.51 percent in Leigh, and 53.46 to 55.37 percent in Prospect. Center District, again, appeared to decline, going from 48.83 percent to 33.41 percent.

The committee, which included Hoffman, of the Republican Party, Jacqulyn Reid from the NAACP, and Patty Cooper-Jones from the Democratic Party, worked with county staff, Commonwealth's Attorney's office, the registrar and utilized software available through the Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC).

The County has grown substantially in the past 10 years, jumping 8.5 percent to 23,368, according to Census data.

Ms. Puckett highlighted that the committee's effort “has moved the schedule up by three weeks. (A development calendar for redistricting had projected a March 29 public hearing.)

That could make Justice Department pre-clearance smoother (a requirement for the new districts to take effect in advance of a possible primary in August and November election).

Hoffman thanked his partners on the project, assessing that they all worked together really well and that there was a lot of “collegiality” among the group. While they did not vote, decisions were made on a consensus basis, that it was always 100 percent agreement on the decisions.

“…We are all uniformly behind this recommendation,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman also cited the efforts of the County's Staff, registrar and Regional Planner Melody Foster of the CRC. Technology, he also said, was a “huge assistance” to the process.

(Editor's note: the County has published a detailed map and a description of the proposed new districts on pages two and three of The Herald's “B” section.)