Nueces County holds first public hearing on 2021 redistricting maps; consultant presents four plans

Attorney Jose Garza presented four draft redistricting maps to the Nueces County Commissioners Court on Nov. 3, telling the court the current plan’s top-to-bottom deviation exceeded legal limits and that his “least-change” option would reduce that difference to below 10%.

Garza, the county's redistricting consultant, said the existing plan carries a roughly 322.54% top-to-bottom deviation and that the law allows a variance of 10%. “So that's the other thing that we have is is we're under a very tight timeline,” Garza said while showing slide tables that compared current precinct populations and minority percentages. He emphasized the need to keep three minority-opportunity districts intact and to balance population across precincts to comply with the one-person, one-vote rule.

The court heard more than a dozen public comments during the hearing. Speakers urged broader public notice, evening hearing times and web tools to allow residents to examine maps at the precinct and street level. “Publish the information about the public hearing in the newspaper,” said Sandra Boatwright, urging more outreach so residents who don't regularly use the web can participate. Several speakers, including representatives of the League of Women Voters and local Fair Maps advocates, urged an inclusive process and suggested an independent redistricting commission as an option in the future.

Judge Barbara Canales and staff said they would make the presentations available and watermark preliminary drafts to reduce confusion. The court scheduled two follow-up sessions for public comment: Nov. 8 (evening) and Nov. 10 (evening), and asked Garza to supply precinct-level lists, clearer maps and political-demographic comparisons to help residents evaluate partisan effects.

The county also agreed to provide updated and enlarged visuals for the next hearings and to accept written and hotline comments. County officials emphasized these maps are preliminary and that public feedback will inform revisions before any final adoption or vote.

The court closed the hearing after confirming the Nov. 8 and Nov. 10 hearing times. Garza said he would refine the four plans based on the comments and bring updated materials for public review at the next sessions.