Fort Worth’s elected leaders, not a separate panel, should answer for City Council districts

Every 10 years, as required by our country’s Constitution, we count the population and use that data to redraw political districts. On March 29, the Fort Worth City Council will approve a new council district map.

Complicating redistricting this year, voters approved a city charter amendment in 2016 that adds two new council seats beginning with the May 2023 election. We will expand from eight council members plus a mayor to a “10 plus 1” arrangement.

To help with the process, in 2020, the council created a Redistricting Task Force (consisting of non-elected citizens) and charged it with advising the city about state and federal “redistricting procedures and criteria.” In particular, the 1965 Voters Rights Act prohibits governments from discriminating against groups of voters based on race.

The Task Force advised the City Council to provide the best chance to “elect council members who reflect fort worth’s diverse population.” To bolster compliance with the voting-rights law, the city will create multiple “minority-opportunity districts” in which more than half of the residents are members of minority racial or ethnic groups.

Furthermore, the new district maps must avoid packing minority neighborhoods into predominantly white districts or fragmenting minority communities as a means to diminish their voting power. One of the criteria, that a district is properly compact, must be proven mathematically.

Uneven voter turnout among ethnic groups will make it difficult to form a council that resembles our city’s demographic assortment. Currently, five of eight council districts are minority-majority and two of those are Hispanic majority. But there is only one Latino City Council member, Carlos Flores in District 2.

At present, black and white populations are amply represented on council. The black population is about 19% of the city, and three out of nine council members are black. The white population sits at about 40%, yet five of nine members are white.

Redistricting will attempt to put upward pressure on Hispanic representation, but that is unlikely to materialize if the turnout percentages among the three groups remain unbalanced.

Many residents believe the city should appoint an independent redistricting commission and authorize it to decide district lines. Proponents argue that it is a conflict of interest for elected officials to draw boundaries that could affect their chances of reelection.

I disagree. We should not leave an assignment of such significance to unelected individuals who are not accountable to voters. Besides, there is no such thing as an “independent” decision-maker. Every person brings their personal viewpoints into politics. It’s unavoidable.

The task force laid out clear criteria for drawing district lines that meet federal and state requirements regarding non-discriminiation. The council should consider only a map that checks these boxes.

Visit the city’s website to see if your neighborhood may be changing council districts. The city is hosting several redistricting town hall meetings so we can learn about the proposed map and express our opinions.

We elected City Council members to make tough decisions like these. We should let them do their job while holding them accountable and ensuring transparency.

I predict that we will end up with a new district map that gives us an opportunity to elect a council that looks like our city. The elected officials will have done their part. Then it will be up to the rest of us to go vote.