Winston County supervisors on Monday, January 25, 2021 contracted with the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District for redistricting services, the same group that led that work for the county 10 years ago.
Redistricting is a process that follows the U.S. Census every 10 years and redraws the lines of representation within a particular entity -- in this case the five-county supervisor and the two justice court districts -- according to federal guidelines.
Toby Sanford with GTPDD told supervisors that based upon estimated numbers that the county will most likely have to redraw district lines.
Winston County's population fell by nearly 1,200 residents according to 2019 estimates, most counties in Mississippi said Sanford. He noted these are estimates and not data from the Census Bureau.
"It's almost guaranteed you'll have to redistrict," he said.
In 2011, Sanford said GTPDD received the census data from the year before in April. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic slowing down the process, he said it will probably come around June.
Once the numbers come and GTPDD can map the data, Sanford recommended supervisors hold public hearings before approving either new or the existing district lines. If the districts don't change, he said, GTPDD will not charge the county. If they do, Winston County will pay $10,000 for the service, the same as in 2011.
As of now, unlike past redistricting efforts, the county's redistricting will not require preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the February 1, Board of Supervisors meeting Winston resident Onzie Glenn checked on the redistricting efforts so far.
Board president Luke Parkes noted that until receiving the data from the federal census department the county was in a holding pattern on redistricting.
