Mississippi Republican Party Statement on House Republicans’ Alternative Redistricting Plan

Mississippi Republican Party Statement on House Republicans’ Alternative Redistricting Plan

JACKSON – Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Arnie Hederman has issued the following statement on the House Republicans’ alternative redistricting plan scheduled to be proposed early this week:
“The alternative plan to be introduced early this week by House Republicans is an important step forward in restoring fairness to the redistricting process this year.
Working from the plan proposed by the House Democrats earlier this month, the House Republicans have corrected several critical legal roadblocks in their amended version. The House Republicans’ plan splits fewer precincts, contains more compact districts, better reflects population shifts since 2000, and corrects an illegal partisan violation of the one-man, one-vote principle.
On all measures, the House Republican plan is a plan that not only will hold up under legal scrutiny, unlike the plan introduced by House Democrats, but it also will more fairly and equitably represent our state for the next ten years.”
House Republican Alternative Plan (HRAP) Quick Hits:
? The House Republican Alternative Plan (HRAP) contains only 164 precinct splits, which is less than the House Consensus Plan (HCP) which splits 193 precincts. The HRAP also contains fewer zero-population splits than the HCP.

The HRAP splits only 143 precincts with population, where the HCP splits 171 precincts with population (a 16% improvement).
? The HRAP’s proposed districts are more compact than the districts proposed in the HCP.

Using eight different methods of measuring compactness, the HRAP proved to be more compact than the HCP on all eight measures.

? The HRAP better reflects population shifts since 2000 than the HCP. Since 2000, the population in the Delta has declined by 44,428, or the equivalent of 2 districts. Yet, the HCP does not dissolve a single district in this region. Instead, it gerrymanders eastward robbing population from high growth areas to buoy districts that should have been dissolved.

? The HRAP creates new districts in high growth areas like DeSoto County and the Hattiesburg region, replacing districts in areas of declining population like the Delta. The proposed new Hattiesburg district witnessed a 21% increase in population since 2000.

? The HRAP corrects partisan inequities in deviation built into the HCP. Under the HCP, the average deviation of districts held by Democrat incumbents is -1.0%, while the average deviation of districts held by Republican incumbents is +1.3%. This means, under the HCP, the “one-man, one-vote” rule is violated on a partisan basis.

However, under the HRAP, the average deviation of districts held by Democrat incumbents is 0.0%, while the average deviation of districts held by Republican incumbents is -0.1% — a statistically insignificant difference.

MSGOP
3/14/11