A new voting ward map proposed by city officials last week shrank the existing six wards to make room for a seventh one. In the process, the new map, which was drawn up as a condition of a recent lawsuit settlement against the city, created a ward that, if the map is approved, will have an overwhelming Mississippi State University majority.
“My ward has become more student friendly,” said Ward 4 Alderman Lee Beck. “It is packed with students and almost all of the major apartment complexes.”
Beck said that the new ward map added some more student apartments, such as Stonehenge, to his ward. The creation of a ward with a dense student population would help to ensure that whoever lives in the area and has the interest of MSU students in mind can be elected.
Starkville Mayor Mack Rutledge said the proposed ward map was a result of a lawsuit filed against the city claiming the voting system was discriminating against minorities. As part of the settlement the city agreed to create seven smaller wards.
“It’s unfortunate we had to go to court,” Dr. Mfanya Tryman, president of the local NAACP chapter and one of the persons who filed the lawsuit, said. “City officials felt that [a new voting map] would be impossible to draw that gives proportional representation based on the population of the city.”
Rutledge said that by making the existing wards smaller in population, it would be possible to meet the terms of the court ruling. The settlement mandated that two wards have no less than a 63 percent black population.
“The aldermen showed interest in the map,” said Rutledge, concerning the meeting last week when the new voting map made its debut. “They agreed to some alterations that would still maintain upwards of 63 percent African-American population in two wards. The aldermen apparently will bring forth the map at an upcoming meeting, but they still have some specifics to work out,” he added.
Beck said that the new map still has to be approved, and that no one has seen a final version of the map just yet.
Tryman said that the final outcome of the lawsuit was a consent decree mandating the creation of a new ward.
In a consent decree both parties reach an agreed settlement and then take it before the judge to approve.
Even though a settlement has been reached, the matter is still under the jurisdiction of the court.
If the city fails to comply with the settlement then the courts would draw up the new map.
“We’re just asking for fairness and representation,” Tryman said.
“The city has a 30 percent African-American population. That means that out of six aldermen we should have two to represent us,” he added.
Rutledge said that a Ward 7 alderman would have to be elected to serve in the future.
Tryman said that the new voting map would not have a position for alderman at large.
Currently Alderman Vic Zitta holds the seat.