The San Juan County Commission adopted a new school board redistricting plan – over the objections of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and the Navajo Utah Commission.
Last month, a federal judge had ordered the county to come up with a new redistricting plan for the school board.
The county’s school districts were based on unequal population distribution and violated the Voting Rights Act, according to U.S. Judge Robert Shelby.
Though there are enough Navajo voters in the county to control three of the five school board seats, gerrymandered districts diluted the Navajo voters’ strength.
Virginia-based Election Data Services, Inc. redrew the school board districts to make them more equal in terms of population, but the company provided no information on the number of white and native voters in each district.
“We need to know the numbers” said Leonard Gorman, chairman of the Navajo Human Rights Commission.
The Navajo Nation and several other plaintiffs sued in 2014. The voting districts hadn’t been redone since 1992.
Kimball W. Brace, president of Election Data, said two districts were tilted toward native voters and two toward whites.
District 3 is “split down the middle” in terms of population.
But does District 3’s population include natives of voting age? If not, the Navajo Nation will find itself right back where it started – controlling only two of the school board seats.
Gorman suggested that the redistricting is already out of step with Judge Shelby’s order because the jurist had strongly urged the county to consult the Navajo Nation.
The county did not consult the tribe, Gorman said.
“That’s not true,” insisted County Commission Chairman Phil Lyman.
“There have been a lot of back and forth emails,” County Attorney Kendall Laws said.
The court had set a January 28 deadline for a new plan to be in place, so the commission had to accept it be in non-compliance with the court’s order, Laws explained.
Brace said his company “reviewed” proposals from the Navajo Nation but rejected them because they did not reflect the existing voting precincts.
The county commission’s plan will be sent to Shelby, who had indicated that he would issue a final ruling by the end of February.