This is necessary when local population grows and shifts. The process will decide the boundaries of Knox County Commission and School Board districts.
Overview
Goals
Committee
Timeline
Why do we redistrict?
Representative governments depend upon equal districts to give everyone the same voting power. State law requires all county legislative bodies to evaluate their districts at least once every 10 years (TCA §5-1-111). This ensures each district within the county has approximately equal populations.
Redistricting Goals
One Person, One Vote
The concept of equal representation in voting. Each district’s commissioner represents an equal number of people when they vote on local matters.
Ideal Population
The target population for each district, found by dividing the total population for the county by the number of commission districts.
Deviation
The difference between a district’s ideal population and its actual population.
Overall Deviation
The range between the highest positive deviation and the lowest negative deviation – the goal in redistricting is to have an overall deviation less than 10%.
Population Preservation
If a racial/ethnic minority population comprises more than 50% of an existing district, any changes to that district must also have more than 50% minority population to preserve the ability to elect minority-preferred candidates.
Compactness
The measure of how regular or irregular a shape is – districts are required to be reasonably compact to prevent gerrymandering.
Knox County Redistricting Committee
The Committee concluded its work in October, 2021, recommending Plan 3B to Knox County Commission for adoption.
- Chair Kyle Ward County Commission: District 4
- Vice Chair Randy Smith County Commission: District 3
- Richie Beeler County Commission: District 8
- Justin Biggs County Commission: At Large
- Charles Busler County Commission: District 7
- Carson Dailey County Commission: District 9
- Chris Davis Knox County Election Commission: Administrator of Elections
- Courtney Durrett County Commission: District 2
- Terry Hill County Commission: District 6
- Kristi Kristy Chair of School Board: District 9
- Larsen Jay County Commission: At Large
- Dasha Lundy County Commission: District 1
- John Schoonmaker County Commission: District 5
Project Timeline
- March, 2021
- Redistricting Committee formation
- May
- Preliminary Geographic and Population Data released
- June
- Vote on Commission resolution to exclude non-voting prisoners
- Redistricting plan and documents submitted to TN Comptroller's Office
- August
- Legacy Format data released by U.S. Census Bureau (8/12)
- September
- Redistricting Committee initial meeting (9/1, 5:30 p.m. CCB Main Assembly)
- Meet and vote on proposed solutions (9/9, 5:00 p.m. CCB Small Assembly)
- Meet and vote on proposed solutions (9/16, 5:00 p.m. CCB Small Assembly)
- Meet and vote on proposed solutions (9/23, 5:00 p.m. CCB Small Assembly)
- Final (PL94-171) data released by U.S. Census Bureau (9/30)
- October
- Meet and vote on proposed solutions (10/6, 5:00 p.m. CCB Small Assembly)
- Special Session for First Reading (10/21 , 5 p.m., Small Assembly CCB)
- Public Hearing and Special Session for Second Reading (10/28, 5 p.m., Small Assembly CCB)
- November
- Committee recommendation vote on Agenda (1st reading) - Agenda deadline November 3
- Submit maps and final report to TN Comptroller
- Committee recommendation vote on Agenda (2nd reading)
- January, 2022
- TN State Comptroller redistricting deadline January 1
- Complete work with Election Commission
