DPPJ finally approves redistricting plan; uncertain of legal challenge

MANSFIELD, La. – After months of meetings and reviewing maps, the DeSoto Parish Police Jury has finally settled on a plan that creates new election district lines.

But whether that new map – referred to as Plan H revised – moves forward without a legal challenge remains uncertain.

The Police Jury, like other governing bodies across the state, has been on a timeline to create a new reapportionment plan to adequately represent the parish’s population based on the 2020 census count.

Police jurors began the process a year ago and even approved a map, only to ditch it in December after a group of DeSoto voters the month before filed a formal complaint about the new lines and threatened an injunction. The group of 14 alleged the approved plan was gerrymandered based on race in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Neither an injunction nor a lawsuit had been filed as of late Wednesday, parish Administrator Michael Norton said. 

At issue in the voters' complaint was the fact the plan, referred to as Plan C, kept five of the 11 districts as majority black and based in Mansfield, while Mansfield itself has seen steady population decline and now only represents 17.5 percent of the parish. That meant the five black districts were underpopulated and districts in the growth area on the north end of the parish were overpopulated, according to the voters’ complaint.

The Police Jury’s demographer, Mike Hefner, drew up more plans and in February the majority of the 11 police jurors appeared to informally lean toward what’s now called Plan H revised. It still retains the five majority black districts.

Two other maps – one from demographer Cedric Floyd, who worked for the Police Jury in years past, and another from demographer Gary Joiner, who was hired by the citizens objecting to the Police Jury’s plans – were also reviewed. The Police Jury at one point was prepared to hold another work session to go over the maps again but that didn’t happen.

At Monday’s special meeting, Hefner’s Plan H revised and Floyd’s Plan CC were up for consideration. Floyd’s plan failed to gain enough support and was defeated on a 7 to 4 vote.

Plan H Revised was adopted on the same vote spread with police jurors Greg Baker, Keith Parker, Reggie Roe, Jimmy Holmes, Kyle Kennington, Trina Boyd Simpson and Dewayne Mitchell voting in favor. Voting against were Jeri Burrell, Ernel Jones, Rodrigues Ross and Richard Fuller.

Police jurors also learned that even though they rescinded their vote on Plan C, the Secretary of State’s office didn’t get the notification and was half-way done with its work to implement that plan for the fall elections.

District Attorney Charles Adams said the SOS called him that morning saying they are “real anxious” to know the outcome of the meeting to know how to proceed.