The big picture
At an Aug. 12 meeting, Fort Bend County commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a resolution adopting criteria for redistricting, following a February letter from state Rep. Matt Morgan, R-Richmond, which claimed some of the county’s voter precincts during the November election did not meet state population requirements.
The criteria approval comes after the July 8 creation of a Citizens Redistricting Advisory Committee, which will allow the public to advise the court on redistricting. Jacob Lee, treasurer for the Fort Bend Conservative PAC, was appointed as the committee’s head in a July 22 meeting.
Zooming in
The resolution—which will allow any Fort Bend County resident or official to submit proposed plans—requires new maps to avoid racial gerrymandering and must follow “easily” identifiable geographic boundaries, according to agenda documents.
Any submitted plans must consist of all four precincts and be made using 2020 census data, according to agenda documents. The advisory committee will establish procedures for submission.
Other key guidelines include:
- Commissioner district populations should not deviate by more than 10% between the largest and smallest district.
- Commissioner districts should be contiguous.
- Neighborhoods and census blocks should not be split, if possible.
What else
During the meeting, Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy read an email from Robert Bass, the attorney who has led county redistricting efforts since 1990, which refuted claims made that the current maps violate the Voting Rights Act, or VRA.
Bass, who Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers claimed in a July 8 meeting is retired and whose firm no longer does redistricting work, said he is not retired and declined to take on redistricting efforts because he believes the maps do not violate the VRA.
“I have cautioned against such efforts,” Bass said in the statement. “I do not perceive, at this time, any significant reason to undertake mid-decade redistricting.”
However, Meyers said he believes the current maps do not comply with federal law in an Aug. 13 emailed statement.
“I have asked the county attorney and others involved in the 2021 process to provide documentation that the map that was adopted had been fully and properly reviewed by legal counsel to confirm that it met state and federal laws before it was presented to Commissioners Court for an 11th-hour vote,” Meyers wrote. “I am still waiting on copies of such critical documentation.”
Over 500 new residential plats have been signed by the court since the last redistricting effort, meaning tens of thousands of new residents who weren’t accounted for in the 2020 census could go unrepresented by new maps, McCoy said.
“By proceeding with such an action, we are in grave legal risk of being sued,” McCoy said.
Meanwhile, several residents spoke against the redistricting at the meeting, with Fort Bend County resident Sumita Ghosh saying a lawsuit could be filed if the maps are passed.
“You should have already heard from the American Civil Liberties Union,” Ghosh said. “They are watching this very carefully. So in addition to the payments for this process, there will be massive lawsuits because this is all based on lies and perjury on the bench.”
Looking ahead
Community Impact reached out to Fort Bend County to find out more about the redistricting timeline, but did not receive a response before press time.
