Meetings began last night to begin the process of preparing a redistricting plan for the county. The DeKalb County Redistricting Committee plan will be based on results of the 2020 Census count. The plan must be completed and in the hands of the county commission by no later than October 25.

In May the county commission appointed the Redistricting Committee which consists of eleven members including seven county commissioners, two school board members, the county mayor, and the administrator of elections.

Upon the recommendation of County Mayor Tim Stribling, the committee voted in July to name Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley as Chairman. Fifth District County Commissioner Anita Puckett was selected as Vice Chairman and 4th District Commissioner Janice Fish-Stewart is the Secretary.

In addition to County Mayor Stribling and Administrator of Elections Stanley, members of the Redistricting committee are County Commissioners Shaee Flatt from the 1st district, Myron Rhody- 2nd district, Susannah Cripps Daughtry- 3rd district, Janice Fish-Stewart- 4th district, Anita Puckett – 5th district, Matt Adcock – 6th district, and Bruce Malone from the 7th district. The two school board members appointed are Jim Beshearse of the 3rd district and Shaun Tubbs of the 7th district.

By law the county commission district boundary lines must be redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Matthew Hill, senior GIS Specialist for the TN Comptroller’s office, will be assisting the redistricting committee in preparing a plan to recommend to the county commission which has the final say on redistricting. The approved plan then goes to the election commission to redraw precinct boundary lines so that voters and candidates for the 2022 elections know in which districts and precincts they reside.

Based on the census numbers wholesale changes are not required. Districts 2 and 6 may need to gain more residents because they haven’t grown as much as others over the last 10 years while districts 3 and 7 may need to lose a few residents because they have grown too much. Overall there can be no more than a 10 percent deviation in population.

Although by law, redistricting for each county must be completed by January 1, 2022, it needs to be done before the election commission begins issuing candidate petitions December 18 for the 2022 local primaries. That also gives the election commission time to set their voting precincts and update their voter rolls.