PHOENIX — Over the objections of one West Valley member, the Maricopa Board of Supervisors approved a map last week that will define its five district’s boundaries until 2030.
District 5 Supervisor Steve Gallardo said the map four of his colleagues voted for, known in the redistricting process as Map 5A, doesn’t give Latino voters the same opportunity.
Gallardo was the lone “no” vote as the board voted on a Map 5A, with Map 2A being the other “finalist” discussed at a June 30 meeting.
Gallardo said he was frustrated with how Latino voters are evenly distributed among several districts using the map chosen and how Latino neighborhoods and communities of interest are broken up using the map’s boundaries.
The map will be used for supervisor, justice of the peace and special medical districts in elections. It becomes effective Jan. 1, 2023, so August and November elections this year will follow existing boundaries.
Gallardo released a statement after the June 30 vote.
“The redistricting map approved today by my colleagues is a step backward for many communities of interest in Maricopa County, including Latino voters as a whole,” Gallardo said in his statement. “This map gives them less political power, not more. Low-income families in West Mesa will now be competing to have their voice heard in a district that includes Scottsdale, Arcadia, and Fountain Hills.”
After a pair of meetings and executive session in late June, focused on five final possible maps, and gathering public, school district and municipal input, the board added two modified maps, known as Map 2A and Map 5A, to choose from.
The board narrowed its choices to Map 2A and Map 5A for the agenda of the June 30 meeting. July 1 was the deadline to complete maps using late-arriving 2020 U.S. Census data; the county’s precincts were redrawn last fall.
Gallardo pointed out during the June 30 meeting that the biggest adjustments took place in an effort to get a map that equalized populations in each of the five districts. He said the Latino Coalition submitted a proposed map, and Map 2A kept the Town of Guadalupe in District 5, when it has historically been, along with keeping the Alhambra community in west Phoenix in a single district.
Gallardo said he opposed dividing the city of Tempe into sort of north-south halves — the southern half in District 1 and the northern half in District 2.
District 1 Supervisor Jack Sellers said Map 2A would have taken away half of his current constituents, so he supported Map 5A.
District 3, where board chair Bill Gates is supervisor, will have enough Latino population in it that he would vote for Map 5A, Gates said.
Gallardo disagreed, pointing out that the 19.6% average Latino population in each of the five districts, using Map 5A, is far below the overall 32% estimated Latino population in Maricopa County.
“We have decided to take the lowest opportunity,” Gallardo said. “We have six maps that show we can go higher than 19.6%, and we’re not doing it. We are not serving communities of color the best we can.”
Gates asked Attorney David Cantelme, who was at the meeting, if he concluded Map 5A met all legal scrutiny and requirements.
Cantelme said he would rather advise the board in closed session, adding all seven map choices were created “in good faith.”
“(A consultant) considered nine races, including county auditor races Fontes vs. Purcell (2016) and Fontes vs. Richer (2020), and determined 22% was the percentage at which Latinos could elect a candidate of their choice, most of the time,” Cantelme said.
District 4 Supervisor Clint Hickman, whose district covers much of the Northwest Valley and beyond, said his district would be smaller in numbers, but with land still available to develop, he knows District 4 will have more people living in it in 2030 compared with 2020.
In his statement, Gallardo lamented the Alhambra neighborhood will no longer be in his district and Tempe will be bifurcated.
“Individuals I have been representing in the Alhambra District will find fewer people who share their experience in a new district,” Gallardo wrote. “And Tempe, which has always been considered a community of interest, has been split up, diluting the ability of its residents to speak with one voice.”
Sellers said it’s a plus for Arizona State University to have two supervisors representing the campus.
Gallardo and the other four supervisors all thanked Scott Jarret of the Elections Department and others who on redistricting goals, as well as supplying data.
However, Gallardo wrote, he’s not happy about Latino Maricopa County having their voices drowned out, in his opinion.
“I appreciate the difficulty of redistricting and the work that went into that effort,” Gallardo wrote. “But let’s face it, Maricopa County is not 80% Republican and it’s way more than 20% Latino. Maricopa County district boundaries should reflect that reality."
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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