The Louisiana Senate Governmental Affairs Committee reviewed two bills Wednesday to craft new state Senate districts, including one to expand minority representation in the upper chamber.
Committee members heard from sponsors of Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 17 about potential changes to Senate districts necessitated by the 2020 census, which showed an increase in the state’s minority population and a decrease in the white population.
Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, laid out how he crafted the new map in SB 1 using specific criteria outlined in the law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including equal populations, equal opportunity for majority and minority representation, continuity of representation and compactness of districts geographically.
Cortez explained population shifts by district and how he attempted to even out representation, which posed specific issues in different regions of the state. In New Orleans, for example, gentrification is fueling a return in population to the city, while areas of northern Louisiana lost a significant number of voters.
Cortez said the 39 districts in SB 1 were crafted in an attempt to stay within 5% of the ideal population per member of 119,429. The bill shows the populations for each district ranged between 113,512 and 125,253, with a relative mean deviation of 3.42%.
Cortez said he spoke with every senator in reference to district changes.
Sen. Gregory Tarver, D-Shreveport, focused on SB 1’s potential impact on minority representation.
“Did you increase minority participation or do we have the same amount?” Tarver questioned.
Cortez said the number of minority leaning districts in SB 1 remains the same as the current state Senate map.
“Is there a possibility we could increase (minority districts) so everyone can have representation in Louisiana?” Tarver pressed.
Cortez explained it is a complicated task that centers on the interpretation of “opportunity” for minorities to gain a seat in specific districts, as the turnout for voting age minorities differs in different regions of the state.
Districts in rural areas with higher numbers of minorities tend to have lower voter turnout, while districts in urban areas typically have higher turnout from minority voters, Cortez said. A district with just more than 50% minority population with a lower minority voter turnout may not provide a true opportunity for a minority to be elected if the white population has higher voter turnout, he said.
Cortez also cited issues with continuity of representation in creating minority majority districts.
“If I’d have done anything else I would have violated” criteria in the Voting Rights Act, he said.
Sen. Ed Price, D-Gonzales, the sponsor of SB 17, posed the same question a different way.
“The question becomes if the minority population is increasing and the majority population in decreasing, why shouldn’t we look” at creating more minority districts, Price questioned.
Cortez countered that shifting people to different districts to elect different people is against the law, and won’t necessarily create “opportunity” for minorities to get elected.
“If we do not increase the minority districts we’ll never have that opportunity,” Price said.
The committee also reviewed Price’s SB 17, which would create two new minority leaning districts. Price’s map ranged in district population between 113,512 and 125,362 with a relative mean deviation of 3.28%.
Price told the committee that while his interpretation of “opportunity” is less of a slam dunk than the map Cortez proposed, he believes it is incumbent upon those running for office to make their case to voters. He said the minority majority districts he crafted averaged around 53% minority population, but didn’t account for voter turnout.
“My philosophy about this is if we don’t provide this opportunity we never will know if we have a district that’s 54% or 53% people will turn out,” he said. “It’s in my gut that people will go out and vote when they know they have that opportunity and you just got to work hard to achieve it.
“We just can’t sit back now and say ‘oh, they not going to go vote,’” he said. “We don’t know that. But we do know if we give them an opportunity we can say we tried.”
Dozens of people submitted cards to the committee in support and opposition to the proposals, and several who spoke to the committee urged more minority representation. Committee members did not vote on either proposal, and will return for another committee hearing Thursday to further vet the bills.
