Redistricting is not for the faint of heart.
The first meeting of the Hamilton County Commission’s decennial process to divvy up Hamilton County into political districts wasn’t many minutes old last Wednesday when accusations of bias, racism and favoritism were alleged. And this was before any potential map was put on screens for any and all present or watching online to see.
The most critical point, the three Democratic commissioners said in making their accusations, is that the process must begin with the knowledge that the county is made up of roughly one-third (30.4%) minority residents. Somehow, they allege, those 30.4% are not being represented fairly.
It’s unclear, though, how they believe minority residents could be treated more fairly with county residents living where they live and the necessity to shape two districts in ways that would keep minority representation.
The problem is that the two districts with current minority representation, Districts 4 and 5, have minority populations of 71.8% and and 66.8%, respectively. The next closest is District 8 with 35.1% minority representation.