Mayor's Office

Attention: open in a new window.

Dear Council Members and Citizens,

The Board of Apportionment, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General, was created in 1936 by Amendment 23 to the Arkansas Constitution. On July 29, 2011, this three member Board will be voting on the 100 House & 35 Senate districts so that each district meets various legal criteria, including each district being about the same size in population. This "redistricting" is required by law once every 10 years after the Federal Census. The Board of Apportionment only “redistricts” the Arkansas House & Senate (state legislative seats), not congressional seats – that is the responsibility of the Arkansas General Assembly. The official 2010 population total for Arkansas from the U.S. Census Bureau was 2,915,918 people. 2,915,918 divided by 100 Arkansas House districts means that, ideally, each House district will contain 29,159 people. Likewise, 2,915,918 divided by 35 Arkansas Senate districts means that, ideally, each Senate district will contain 83,312 people.

The Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General all released final proposed maps of the House & Senate districts at 4:00 pm on Tuesday July 19, 2011. The Governor and Attorney General’s maps have Maumelle divided into mainly two Senate districts, but a very small portion of the City is in a third Senate district. The Secretary of State’s map has Maumelle mostly intact and in one Senate District, except it omits the same area of Maumelle as the present House District 41 (Diamond Point and Meadow Ridge) . The proposed Senate maps that divide Maumelle will have a tremendous negative effect on our representation. Instead of Maumelle making up approximately 1/4 of a Senate district population it would only be 1/8 of the population in two districts; diminishing our influence with our Senators. All of the House maps have the majority of Maumelle in one district and a small portion in another (Precinct 1). This is a carry-over of the 2001 redistricting when our representative lived in that particular precinct which is not the case anymore.

The redistricting criteria approved by courts states the following: “ The Courts have held that, where possible, it is preferable to minimize splitting political subdivisions such as counties, cities and voting precincts. In other words, where it is possible, it is better to keep whole counties, cities and voting precincts intact.” It also states “Preservation of communities of interests describes the goal of maintaining a group of people in a specific geographic area where those individuals share common interests, i.e., common economic, social, cultural, ethnic, religious or even political interests”. I do not think the last criteria mentioned above has been considered if Maumelle is placed in a district with Conway County, Perry County and or Van Buren County.

You can view all of the maps at http://geocommons.com/maps/88308 or you can visit the Board of Apportionment’ website at http://www.arkansasredistricting.org for more information.

There is a public hearing for final comment to be held on Monday July 25, 2011 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Association of Arkansas Counties building,1415 West Third Street, Little Rock, Arkansas. We need as many people as possible to attend this meeting and speak up for Maumelle. The meeting will be attended by citizens from all over Arkansas so a large number from Maumelle should let the Board of Apportionment members know that this is important to Maumelle. We also need Maumelle citizens to send letters or emails to Governor Beebe and Attorney General McDaniel to express our concerns with their maps as currently drawn.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Michael Watson
Mayor
City of Maumelle

550 Edgewood Drive, Suite 590
Maumelle, AR 72113
(501) 851-2500 office
(501) 803-4673 fax