Supes carve a second district for Democrats

Republican Gerald Steen teamed up with Democrats to make Karl Banks' District 4 nearly 60% minority in a new redistricting map approved on Monday that removed a large chunk of Lake Caroline.

Steen of District 3 and the two Democrats on the Board of Supervisors turned the only supervisor district in the county evenly split into a majority-black district in a 3-2 vote.

Banks’ new district slithers along County Line Road into east Ridgeland.

According to the 2020 Census demographics provided by the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District, District 4 is currently comprised of 45.6% white voters and 47% black voters. 

Under the redistricting plan approved on Monday, the new district is 31.7% white and 58.6% black that will go along with majority black District 5.

CMPDD was contracted by the county for redistricting purposes.

A large portion of Lake Caroline, which has voted predominantly Republican the last couple of election cycles, was taken out of District 4 and placed into District 2. 

Banks, who served District 4 for 32 years before being ousted by a Republican in 2015, retook his seat by ousting his Republican opponent in 2019. 

Banks’ district, which had previously been expanded to the southern point of the county, now creeps east along County Line Road under the new map. 

District 1, District 2 and District 3 have all morphed under the new plan following explosive growth in District 2 in the last decade. 

District 1, represented by Sheila Jones, was 57% white and 31% black now has the largest disparity with 78.68% white and 11.76% black. 

District 2, represented by Trey Baxter, is going from 75% white and 15% black to 76.86% white and 15% black. 

District 3, which is represented by Steen, effectively carves out much of its representation of Madison under the new plan. 

The district went from 62% white and 25% black to 55% white and 32% black. 

District 5, which is represented by Paul Griffin, is the largest district in the county as it represents much or rural northern and northwest Madison County. 

The demographic changes go from 29% white and 65% black to 32.79% white and 61.76% black.

Additional changes include moving St. Catherine’s Village and Cotton Hill Road from District 3 to District 1. Lake Cavalier was originally planned for District 4 but was moved back to District 3.

“I voted for it because it keeps my district intact,” Griffin said after the meeting.

Griffin said the district had to change because of population growth. The county has grown by nearly 15 percent since 2010 census.

“It’s over-populated,” Griffin said. “We had to take some of that population and place it another district.”

When brought up on the agenda Monday, there was no discussion amongst supervisors. 

Steen asked if Sheila was going to discuss it since it was listed under her name and she said she didn’t know what they would discuss. 

“It is what it is,” she said. 

On Jan. 25, supervisors held a public meeting where election officials voiced concern over making changes in the district that would create split voting precincts. 

Phil Buffington of the Madison County Business League & Foundation was the first to voice that the split of precincts should be of the upmost concerns for the supervisors.

“Splits in precincts have costs. They produce extra costs for the county and that is ultimately put on the the citizens,” Buffington said.

Madison County poll worker Arlette Thompson put the split precincts problem more bluntly.

“Splits are tough,” she said. “Having all these splits has to stop. In Madison County, it’s hard enough to find these precinct voting areas. And then when they get there, parking there is trouble.”

Renee Lambert, head of the Madison County Republican Party, agreed with both Buffington and Thompson that split precincts are the worst to deal with.

“Anyone who works the polls knows this,” she said.

As far as meeting the concerns voiced at the public hearing, Griffin on Monday said the matter of split precincts would be addressed at a later time.

“We will get to it after the Justice Court Judges work it. There are probably going to be a lot of changes then and probably a lot added,” Griffin said.