Crawford Alerts State To More Redistricting Errors

Readers of mine will recall the now infamous Humphrey error that I discovered on the Congressional redistricting map on the morning that the state legislature was about to pass the bill with the error included.  The bill, as written, had two voting preciencts in Jefferson County (P851/P862) remaining in the Fourth Congressional district, but isolated them as completely surrounded by the new areas of the First District.

The discovery forced a last minute amendment and an extra day for the session. But it looks like there might be more.

You see, I discovered the error using a free software program downloaded off the Internet called "Dave Redistricting."  It’s good, but it does not have the level of detail you get when working with the precinct level data provided by the county clerks’ offices.

Congressman Rick Crawford sent a letter today to the Pro Temp of the Arkansas Senate and the Arkansas Speaker of the House pointing out two other precincts (P751 and P90) within the area of Jefferson County moved to the First District that remain in the Fourth District (apparently inadvertently) and are isolated from the remaining district.

Here is the letter….

I am writing to request legislative review of information that suggests the new Congressional maps enacted by the Arkansas Legislature have created two separate noncontinuous precincts within the 1stCongressional District. Precincts 90 and 751 appear to remain as 4th District precincts surrounded by 1stDistrict precincts. Should your research confirm this, I request you take up this matter at the earliest appropriate time, if lawful, to amend the congressional map to ensure legal sufficiency.

We discovered the possible error as we began listing the new precincts that comprise the new 1st District. The abnormalities were obvious immediately as we reviewed the precinct list provided by the Jefferson County Election Commission. Ironically, precinct 90 is contiguous to the 851/862 block that required legislative correction earlier this year. The enclosure titled ‘Precincts and Polling Locations,’ provided by the Jefferson County Election Commission, indicates precincts 90, 91, 851, and 862 vote at Humphrey High School. Omitting precinct 90 from Section 1(a)(2) of Act 1242 appears to create a 4th District island within the 1st District.

The second island precinct that appears to have been overlooked is 751, which is about seven miles south, driving U.S. 63/79. The list of polling locations provided by the Jefferson County Election Commission indicates precinct 751 votes with 19, which surrounds it, at the Wabbaseka Community Center. Information provided by the Jefferson County clerk’s office depicts 751 generally as the city of Wabbaseka.

I would be grateful if you would please review this information at your earliest convenience to determine if the congressional map is in compliance with federal law and what actions may be in order to comply if Act 1242 does create island precincts.

This one could get interesting. Crawford’s potential opponent – Rep. Clark Hall, D-Marvell, was the architect behind the map as chairman of the House State Agencies Committee.  The final map was a compromise after failing to get his first map – the "Fayetteville Finger" – through the Senate.  With the session extending into days, the compromise map was rushed, which could explain all the errors.

How to correct it is another question.  Can it be resolved in Special Language or will this force a call for a special session to fix it – with a price tag of several thousand dollars?  But hey, it’s all "free money" right?

UPDATE – A spokesperson for the House tell me – "Speaker Moore has not yet received the letter, but when he does, he will give it the same thorough consideration he gives all requests from a member of our congressional delegation. If after further review any redistricting errors are found, he, along with Senate leadership will decide how best to move forward."

Here are the maps for the two precincts.