Three Redistricting Plans Submitted to Supervisors

The Winston County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Wednesday morning(3-2) to discuss redistricting issues. Due to new Census information and a resulting lawsuit by the NAACP, changes in district lines will be required. Variances in population from one district to another must be less than 10%. Currently some Winston Co. districts exceed this variance.

Golden Triangle Planning & Development presented three separate redistricting proposals to the Board for review. The optimal population of each district is 3840 and as presented, all proposals would result in less than one percent variance from this figure. Each proposal has different boundary changes but some areas that may be affected include:

E of N. Columbus & Brooksville Rd.
S of Bond Road or State Hwy 14 E
W of Enon Rd or portions of State Hwy 15 S
N of Webb Road or Lobutcha Road

Racial make up of each district would not vary greatly from current status as Districts 3 & 4 would maintain black majorities.

A public hearing will be scheduled at a future date and other proposals may be presented. The NAACP suit against 16 counties (including Winston) is requesting that candidate qualification for district races be extended until June 1 to provide sufficient time for district lines to be approved. There is also an additional issue to be addressed; the 2010 Census counted the inmate population located within District One while the State Attorney General indicates that this population should not be included for redistricting purposes. Any redistricting plan must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice prior to implementation.