Lawrence County
Lawrence County made sweeping changes to its districts in 2011. Unfortunately, the population deviation remains close to what it was before, 18% after redistricting compared to 21% before. Lawrence County should redistrict again, preferably making District 3 more compact in the process.
- Overview
- Map
- Data
County Redistricting Overview
State law and state and federal court decisions require that local government districts be compact, contiguous, not cross precint boundaries, and be as nearly equal in population as possible (usually with population deviation of less than 10%). To be in compliance, answers to each of the questions below should be "Yes".
Note: Other requirements regarding vote dilution and minority representation are not examined in this report.
| Were the districts based on the 2000 census in compliance with state law? |
No. The minimum population deviation was 21%, more than twice the allowable limit. |
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| Did the county redistrict after the 2010 census? | Yes, substantially so. | |
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Is the population deviation of the current districts less than 10%? |
No. It is 18%. | |
| Are the current districts compact and contiguous? | District 4 is most of Bedford City. District 3 is nearly split in two when precinct Shawswick 3 wraps around District 4 on the western and northern sides. It follows the contours of a river that runs west of the city. Other than that, the districts appear fine. | |
| Is every precinct wholly contained within a single district? | Yes |
2010 Census Data
In 2012, we were able to determine exact populations for each county council district by identifying which precincts (as drawn in 2011 by each county) were in which county council district. We were able to calculate precinct populations using the 2010 census as long as precincts contained whole census blocks, which they are supposed to do.
| District 1 | 12840 | | | District 2 | 10798 | | | District 3 | 11549 | | | District 4 | 10947 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Total Population | 46134 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average District Population | 11534 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Population Deviation | 18% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Population deviation is calculated by subtracting the smallest district from the largest district and dividing by the average district population. The maximum allowable deviation for local governments is 10%.