MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis City Council had years to do it but now they decided to tinker with district lines right before this upcoming critical election.
Some said that wasn’t fair.
Councilman Myron Lowery said the Council was obligated to make sure each district was as closely aligned as possible every four years but some said this needed to be done a long time ago.
Lowery said because of the annexation of Windyke and South Cordova, District Two now had more than 100,000 residents.
He said the goal was to keep each district to 90,000 people.
“That means that we’re going to have to move 10,000 from district two to either 1, 3, 4 or 5. Five is already at capacity so that’s what we’re looking at right now,” he said.
Some people said they didn’t understand why Council members waited until the day before the filing deadline to start this, when they could have done it years ago.
“Those people are right to complain that we’re doing it late. I’m apologizing on behalf of the Council for not starting this process several weeks ago but in addition, we needed accurate information from the election commission regarding their consolidation of districts to make this workable,” Lowery replied.
Administrator of Elections Richard Holden told us over the phone the Election Commission was responsible for precincts and boundaries, not consolidation.
The last-minute tinkering could impact a City Council candidate.
“I was told that one person was affected. Rachel Knox, I called to explain the situation to her. Ten minutes after I talked with her, we received a call from the Election Commission saying that our paperwork was wrong and she may not be affected, so at this point I don’t know,” Lowery explained.
Holden went on to say that Mr. Lowery was misinformed.
Lowery said this issue would be discussed in executive session next week.
He also said he would not support any changes that would move anyone who was qualified out of their district.
