Graphic by Chuck Williams and South Dakota Democratic party. SD Legistlative Redistricting Map for 2011, Based on the 2010 US Census, Approved October 24, 2011 in Pierre.
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA -- With the largest number of Native American voters, residents were stunned to see that their efforts to make North Rapid into one voting district fell on deaf ears at a South Dakota Legislative Redistricting meeting. On Oct. 24 in a special session to approve a redistricting map, North Rapid community was divided into thirds. What this means for the North Rapid community is that the concerns and issues affecting this area of town are now, rather than representing an entire 30 percent of a legislative district, dissected into three legislative districts that constitute a mere 10 percent of each of those legislative districts. The SD Legislature relies on the census results provided every ten years to determine the changes, if any, that are made across the state. Several public meetings where comments from community members potentially affected by any redistricting are heard, along with write in comments and testimony were scheduled across the state in the weeks leading up to the special session held in Pierre. The overwhelming concerns this year were voiced by districts held by Democratic incumbents, and even one county, Brown County, whose incumbent, is a Democrat although the majority of the constituents are registered Republican voters. The concern is that several counties, including Brown, Lincoln and Bon Homme, as well as the North Rapid are of Rapid City, are being split between districts that could dilute the voice of the historic communities. Chairman of the South Dakota Democratic Party, Ben Nesselhuf released the following statement regarding the redistricting committee’s action. “I commend the redistricting committee for opening up the redistricting process to constituents across South Dakota, who urged lawmakers to keep their communities together. However, public meetings don’t mean much if legislators ignore the wishes of the public. Today, the concerns of citizens in North Rapid City, Brown County, and Bon Homme County were disregarded, and their right to fair representation lost for the next ten years. Republicans made redistricting a game and won. Unfortunately, it’s the citizens of South Dakota who lost and have to live with the consequences for the next ten years.” Rapid City Mayor, Sam Kooiker, has previously stated the intention of the City of Rapid City as well as Pennington County to wait for the SD Legislative redistricting in order to move forward with County Commission and City Precinct/Ward redistricting. As the North Rapid Community is now part of three different legislative districts, the city and county elections which coincide with state elections will now require separate ballots, which Kooiker has already pledged to make available at the recently created Lakota Homes balloting place. At a recent County and City Redistricting Committee meeting, the process followed by the committee was outlined, as well as possible issues that need to be addressed concerning the State legislative redistricting. The City of Rapid City will define its own precincts and wards preceding the County’s commission lines. Once these are established, the Rapid City Council, Pennington County Commission, and the Rapid City Area School Districts Board will meet to approve the redistricting. Gerrymandering is a term that has been heard quite often of late in South Dakota during the Legislative Redistricting. Gerrymandering is the practice of dividing a geographic area into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections. The only time gerrymandering can be legal is when the purpose is to preserving the economic or neighborhood unity of a community. Mayor Kooiker reaffirmed his goal to create and maintain a solid compact district for the Rapid City Native American Population. (Contact Karin Eagle at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com)
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