TESTIMONY
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF TEXAS
Fort Worth City Council
February 28, 2022
I am Stephanie Swanson, testifying as a member and on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Texas in opposition to both Map X Version 2 and Map X Version 3. We appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and thank you for allowing us to share the League of Women Voters of Texas position on this matter.
The League was very happy to learn that the City reconvened the Redistricting Task Force in October of 2021 in order to assist City Council with the redistricting process. The League felt confident that the process the Task Force used, which was transparent and included to include the public input, in the process would help create districts that reflected the communities of Fort Worth. However, we now have serious concerns about the City’s redistricting process after what unfolded at the Feb. 22, 2022 City Council meeting. We were very disappointed to learn that the Council threw out the map that was adopted by the Task Force and instead selected 2 maps that were prepared by Council Members, behind closed doors. You also reduced the number of public input hearings from 4 to 1 after revealing these new map proposals, which does not provide the public much opportunity to analyze and comment on the new maps. These decisions significantly undercut the work done by the Task Force and the Community to create a fair and open redistricting process.
The League also has genuine concerns about the legality constitutionality of the current map proposals. Our concerns arise, at least in part, because of center on base assumptions being applied to the redistricting cycle that fail to fully consider applicable law, which may result in dilution of the voting power of Fort Worth’s growing Black, Latino, and Asian populations. It appears that the demographic information for each plan that is provided on the City’s webpage only shows Voting Age Population (VAP), and not Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP), and thus does not provide transparency on this issue. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that CVAP is the proper measure to use when measuring the voting measuring voting population in order to assessing minority voting strength and the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. See Reyes v. City of Farmers Branch, Tex., 586 F.3d 1019, 1023 (5th Cir. 2009). However, based on just the VAP that is listed on the city’s website, both maps would likely fall short of creating a new Hispanic opportunity district.
Additionally, since the City has not provided a detailed district plan that allows the public to view the street names along the district boundaries, and since both proposals go below the precinct level in almost every district, it is virtually impossible for the public to recreate the maps on their own to asses the demographic profiles of the proposed districts. However, based on the VAP that is listed on the city’s website, both maps would likely fall short of creating a new Hispanic opportunity district.
Finally, given that communities of color now account for 65% of the city’s population, we would like to encourage City Council to perform the appropriate an exhaustive analysis to determine if the maps comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is being properly followed so that communities of color receive the representation they deserve under federal law.
Thank you for your time and consideration.