Hendersonville Standard
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Plan with 24 county districts is bad for residents, voters




Mansfield

Mansfield

Gerrymandering is when politicians manipulate voting district boundaries to favor one person or party over another. Unfortunately, Sumner County is not immune to such tactics. In an unprecedented and historic move, the county commission voted to change Sumner County from a 12-district makeup with two commissioners each, to a 24-district makeup having one commissioner each.

It’s a simple fact that 24 districts give less representation for the hardworking taxpayers of Sumner County than a 12-district system. Under the now old 12-district system, each Sumner voter had a better chance to have 100% representation with two commissioners per district, especially when those two are on the opposite sides of issues.

As I elaborated from the floor regarding my co-commissioner and me for the 11th district, we are on the opposite sides of virtually every issue. However, because of our balanced and representative form of government, citizens in our district have 100% representation of their views because there are two of us to fully represent all views in our district. In a one representative system, you have a greater chance of having no voice or 0% representation if your commissioner does not vote according to your views or values.

And 50% of the people will never have representation. That’s a travesty.

Given the current makeup of the commission, I guess that was their goal — to further solidify their ability to ignore the voices, values, and the will of the people.

Important Facts

Several important facts I shared regarding the structural and historical makeup of county commission districts throughout the state should have been taken into consideration but were not. Commissioners Moe Taylor and Merrol Hyde attested to this after I shared these during our meeting, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And our system wasn’t broken.

District Facts

• A majority of Tennessee counties have two to three commissioners per district.

• Out of 95 counties, 79 have two or more commissioners per district, with many more having three commissioners per district. That’s approximately 85% of all counties with two or more commissioners.

• There are only 16 counties with one commissioner per district. That’s approximately 15% of all counties with only one commissioner per district. Several of these are metro or charter forms of government.

Structural Facts

• Sumner County has had at least two representatives per district for over 55 years.

• Every census, less than three to four counties in the state might implement any structural changes. This year, the state-funded County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) knew of only one county in the state that was reducing the number of overall commissioners.

• If anything, CTAS encourages a reduction in the number of commissioners every census cycle and not an increase of anything like creating more commission districts.

Redistricting is all about the citizens and not elected officials. It should be based on the number of people who need representation, and having two commissioners to reach out to per district provides more opportunities for representation.

As Commissioner Jerry Becker stated in a newsletter to his constituents after the meeting, “This new model effectively eliminates that “checks and balances” type of governing model within each district.” Yet again, given the current makeup of this commission, that always seems to be the goal.

And manipulating commission districts to better insulate sitting commissioners who consistently vote against the people’s will is an excellent example of gerrymandering. It protects individual elected officials instead of safeguarding the hardworking taxpayers they are elected to represent.

Additional Costs

One important point revealed to us during the meeting was that the makeup of this new 24-district structure would require more voting precincts throughout the county. This will require more of your hard-earned tax dollars to run our elections. Dollars that could have been saved and spent elsewhere under the 12-district model that was working just fine. Instead of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, now it’s let’s put the fix in to make more of you broke!

Commissioner Jeremy Mansfield represents District 11

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