Samuel Metz / AP
Republican lawmakers dissatisfied with Nevada Democrats’ redistricting plan present alternative maps in Carson City, Nev. on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021. Nevada lawmakers reallocated hundreds of incarcerated residents to their pre-prison addresses to better comply with a 2019 law banning a practice known as “prison gerrymandering.”
Monday, Nov. 15, 2021 | 6:40 p.m.
The Nevada Assembly is revising a redistricting proposal being considered during a special session of the Nevada Legislature, approving amendments to bring the Walker River Paiute Tribe into one district as the original proposal by the state Senate split the tribe into two districts.
They also adjusted proposed congressional districts to reflect the last-known addresses of 1,612 inmates who were incarcerated in Nevada Department of Corrections facilities.
Lawmakers have been meeting since Friday to redraw congressional and statehouse districts, with the Assembly passing amended maps on Monday. The amendments are forwarded to the Senate for consideration.
The Nevada Legislature in past decades has tried to redraw its maps during scheduled sessions, but the U.S. Census Bureau did not send its count until September — five months after the regular season ended.
The Democratic majority state Senate on party lines voted 12-9 Sunday to forward the proposal to the Assembly, even though representatives from minority communities expressed concerns that new congressional districts weakened the minority vote by splitting the state’s 1st Congressional District, which is located in heavily Latino populated east Las Vegas.
The current district, which is represented by Democrat Dina Titus, contains more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. The proposal would redistribute about 1 out of every 7 Latino residents and decrease the demographic group’s share of the district from 45.1% to 35.5%.
Organizations representing Latino, Black, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities all opposed the bill.
Democratic Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro defended the bill saying, “I do believe that these particular maps not only balanced and accounted for what are traditionally thought of as criteria for redistricting, but are both fair and legal and I think do accurately reflect the Nevada that I was born and raised in, the Nevada that I love so deeply, and our growing diversity.”
Out of about a dozen people speaking during the public comment period Monday, nobody spoke in favor of the Senate bill and its amendments.
“It was great to see that Walker River Paiute Tribe was put into one district,” said Emily Persaud Zamora, executive director of Silver State Voices, a group that testified previously against the proposal.
“However, we still feel that the maps that are proposed do not reflect the priorities and needs of your constituents. The Latinx community is the largest community in (Congressional District) 1 with over 300,000 residents, and the proposed map is blatantly disregarding their priorities and needs.”
The disputed map would carve out some Hispanic voters to the 4th Congressional District, which is represented by Democrat Steven Horsford.
Persaud Zamora said the organization keeps hearing that people are unhappy with proposed maps, and because redistricting only happens once every 10 years, there will be no going back once the maps are finalized.
Under the proposed maps, the Latino community in east Las Vegas would become an “ineffective minority” that will be unable to overcome the “affluent high voting areas” of places like Boulder City, Seven Hills and McDonald Ranch, said Holly Welborn, policy director of ACLU of Nevada, which is also opposed to the proposal.
Maria Nieto Orta, Nevada political director at Mi Familia Vota, asked that lawmakers vote against the bill and go back to the drawing board. Mi Familia Vota is a nonpartisan civic organization.
“As elected officials it is your responsibility to champion what your constituents care about,” Nieto Orta said. “This body has not done right by my community.”
