Floyd County Courthouse (Alex Driggars/Floyd County Record)
FLOYDADA — Floyd County Commissioners on Wednesday met to learn what their precincts might look like moving forward.
The meeting, which was called to discuss redistricting in the county, featured a video call presentation of the proposed new precinct map drawn up by Bob Bass of the Allison, Bass & Magee law firm.
Bass noted that Floyd County lost more than 1,000 residents (19.3 percent of the population) between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. Because of this, Bass said, a “considerable imbalance” now exists in population between precincts. Redistricting is required if the total deviation between the precincts is greater than 10 percent.
“Your county is 64 percent out of whack,” Bass told commissioners. By moving the boundary lines around a bit inside Floydada city limits, which is split between three precincts, Bass was able to bring the deviation to an acceptable level, around two to three percent.
Precinct 3, which is currently underpopulated by more than 42 percent, would see its southern boundary move further into the city, balancing out Precincts 1 and 4, which are both currently overpopulated by around 20 percent.
In total, approximately 800 Floyd County residents, most of which live within in the City of Floydada, will be in a different county precinct under the new plan, Bass said.
Bass also pointed out that, under the new plan, Precincts 3 and 4 will consist of a Hispanic majority of more than 65 percent each, but said that this imbalance is acceptable under voting rights legislation due to the fact that Floyd County’s total population is more than 56 percent Hispanic. Precincts 1 and 2 will be majority white.
A public hearing regarding the proposed redistricting plan will be held on November 9 at 4 p.m. in the county courtroom. All Floyd County citizens are welcome to learn about the proposed redistricting plan and voice opinions and concerns.
