Doris Maricle

JENNINGS — The Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury approved a proposal Wednesday from a Lafayette demographer to redraw the parish’s district lines following the 2020 Census.

Mike Hefner, of Geographic Planning Demographic Services, will create the new reapportionment plan to meet shifts in the parish’s population at a cost of $25,500. Hefner was also hired by the Jeff Davis Parish School Board in March to create a similar plan for school districts.

New population numbers are not expected to be released until this summer but Police Jury President Steve Eastman anticipates adjustments will have to be made the parish’s voting districts due to population shifts with new subdivisions being developed in rural areas and victims of last year’s hurricanes relocating to the area.

“I think we will have big shift in the Lacasine and Iowa area because we have had an influx of people coming into the area from Calcasieu and Cameron parishes,” Eastman said.

“There has also been a lot of development in the Lacassine area with two subdivisions already in place and others planned for future development. That whole side of the parish is really growing.”

If the census data shows a change of 5 percent in population, lines must be redrawn and districts must be nearly equal in population.

In meeting with the Police Jury and School Board last month, Hefner said the timing for reapportionment is unusual this year because the COVID pandemic and software glitches have delayed the collection, tabulation and release of the census information.

“Normally we would be getting data by late February or early March, but because of COVID Congress allowed the Census Bureau to delay issuing the census data to the president until the end of April rather than last December,” Hefner said.

The Census Bureau is not expected to release the data until late July or early August which means parishes have lost six months of planning time, he said.

Hefner said he can begin preliminary work on the redistricting plan ahead of the census figures being released.

Political bodies are tasked with redrawing its district lines every 10 years to meet shifts in population and maintain minority districts based on the latest census figures.

Among the criteria to be considered when creating a plan are compactness and contiguousness of districts and ensuring that racial minority representation is not weakened, and minimizing district splits, Hefner saidJeff Davis signSpecial to the American Press