BLANCO COUNTY NEWS

By Keith J. McClellan

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 • Posted March 24, 2011

http://www.blanconews.com/news/100071 

At a special meeting of the Blanco County Commissioners Court on March 16, Commissioners received information relative to the 2010 Census and its impact on County alignments. The report came in the form of an Initial Assessment of County Political Boundaries and a brief evaluation of the changing demographics of the County Population.

In a letter to Judge Guthrie and Commissioners dated March 7, 2011, Attorney Robert T. "Bob" Bass stated the following:

"You will find attached to this letter our initial assessment of your existing political boundaries based upon population data extracted from the 2010 Census.

"Based upon these numbers, Blanco County will be legally required to redistrict the Commissioners Court Precincts in 2011. The total maximum deviation between your largest and smallest existing Precincts, in terms of population, can be found under Tab 2 of the Initial Assessment. As long as this number is below 10%, you are not legally obligated to redraw your political boundaries. However, the total Maximum Deviation for Blanco County, based upon the 2010 Census, is 29.27%. Consequently, you will be obligated to go forward with redistricting…"

Mr. Bass explained to Commissioners that the political boundaries must legally retain "one-person-one-vote" balance. This requirement is now carried forward by statutory requirement in Article 42.001 of the Texas Election Code, and has been extended in turn to virtually all political bodies that elect representatives from special member districts or geographic regions of political jurisdictions in which the candidates for representative office reside.

In counties inhabited by a significant minority population, there is also a need to assure minority representation.

New map will be posted when available.