Judge finds SJC’s new voting districts unconstitutional
CHINLE
Two months after ordering San Juan County, Utah, to redraw its school board election districts, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby has ruled that its county commission voting districts are also flawed, and a 2011 redistricting did nothing to alleviate Navajo voters’ concerns that their voices are being suppressed.
Before the 2011 redistricting, the voting districts had not been redrawn since 1986, after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the county for gerrymandering the districts to the point that the Navajo majority could not elect a Navajo commissioner.
Counties are supposed to redraw their districts every 10 years, in conjunction with the U.S. Census, to accommodate shifts in population.
The county in 1986 created three voting districts: two mostly white and one overwhelmingly Navajo, resulting in the election of the first Native American county commissioner, Mark Maryboy, that year.
The 2011 redistricting shifted the boundaries of Districts 1 and 2, the majority white districts, but left mostly Navajo District 3 alone, saying the district was the result of the 1986 settlement and therefore should not be touched.
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