Even though 2010 Census data shows the populations of some Española voting precincts have grown by as much as 30 percent since 2000, Mayor Alice Lucero is insisting the city will not redraw its district boundary lines to adapt to the population shifts as required by law.
After the 2010 Census, each voting district in the city should be comprised of 5 percent above or below an ideal population of 2,556, according to statute and Census data. This figure is determined by taking the city’s total 2010 population of 10,224 and dividing it by four, the number of voting districts in the city.
While the city’s population overall grew by 5.5 percent to reach 10,224, one precinct within city limits between South McCurdy Road and Riverside Drive grew by 30.4 percent, from 1,602 people to 2,089, over the last decade. And the precinct just east of South McCurdy Road grew by 16 percent, from 1,411 to 1,640 people, precinct data shows.
The first precinct is split between Districts 1 and 3, while the other is located in District 3. Councilors Cecilia Lujan and Chayo Garcia represent District 3, while Councilors Dennis Tim Salazar and Pedro Valdez represent District 1.
Another precinct fell in population by 13 percent, from 845 to 737 people, according to the data. This precinct is in District 2, near the Española Misión y Convento, and is represented by Councilor Greg Ortega and Councilor Helen Kain-Salazar.
The other nine precincts that fall either entirely or partially within city limits had less significant changes in population, ranging from 2 to 8 percent, precinct data shows (see box below).
Despite the 5 percent margin required by law, Lucero said the city isn’t going to redraw its district boundaries to adapt to these changes. She said the city’s redistricting was completed in 2007 when its population was just shy of 10,000. She said redistricting was done at that time in anticipation of reaching the 10,000 benchmark by 2010, thus creating the four districts that currently exist.
However, Joseph Maestas, who was mayor during the city’s 2007 redistricting process, said the city relied on 2000 Census data to redraw its district boundaries in 2007.
Maestas said just because the city redistricted four years ago, a move he said was discretionary, that doesn’t exclude the city from the process this time around.
“It’s mandated as the city has now exceeded 10,000 (in) population, so they have to go back and reevaluate those districts based on the 2010 Census data,” Maestas said. “I don’t think that’s discretionary.”
As part of the city’s 2007 redistricting, the City Council abolished the then-established at-large Council system, in which all voters chose eight councilors from a citywide batch of candidates, in favor of a four-district system with two councilors in each district, Rio Grande SUN reports from fall 2007 state. The at-large system came under scrutiny following a 2006 opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office recommending the city change it, as well as a lawsuit against the city questioning the legality of the system.
If Lucero holds her position, the city may once again find itself in legal hot water over redistricting because state law requires municipalities to divide and equalize their voting districts, or at least consider doing so, every 10 years, according to statute and Legislative Council Services staff attorney Job Boller.
Boller said if there are changes in a voting district’s population after each decennial census, the city has to redistrict to protect the principle of “one voice, one vote.”
“The city and (Rio Arriba) County do have to redistrict and use these new precincts,” he said.
The difference between one district and another can be plus or minus 5 percent, Boller said.
He took issue with the city not considering redistricting because one of the precincts that experienced population growth is only 467 people shy of having the same population as an entire district should. Boller said the city risks litigation by not redistricting.
State law also requires that a governing body not split precincts between multiple districts for any elected office, except to preserve a community of interest. A community of interest, though not defined in state statute, can mean an ethnic group or a group with common interests requiring protection under the 14th and 15th Amendments.
Five of the city’s precincts are split between more than one district, and one precinct is split between all four of the city’s districts, precinct data shows.
“I don’t know why (Lucero) wouldn’t want to do (redistricting),” District 4 Councilor Cory Lewis said.
Lewis is up for re-election in 2012 after he finishes the remainder of Lucero’s term, to which he was appointed in 2010 following her election as mayor. Precincts in Lewis’ district saw a 4 percent increase in population overall.
He said it’s not fair for one district to have more population than another, stating that would make it more challenging for people to canvass.
Kain-Salazar said if some districts have more people than others, those voters won’t be fairly represented.
“If (the growth) is in the city limits, then it does have to be redistricted,” she said. “They have to be represented.”
Additional calls to Lucero were not returned, nor was a call to the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.