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Jennifer Gamble From: Whitney Parrish Sent: Monday, October 18, 2021 4:54 PM To: County Commissioners Cc: Jennifer Gamble; John Crumpton Subject: FW: [EXTERNAL]Public comment remarks for the Monday, October 18th meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners FYI From:Ann McCracken <awmccracken@charter.net> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2021 4:25 PM To: Whitney Parrish <wparrish@leecountync.gov> Subject: [EXTERNAL)Public comment remarks for the Monday, October 18th meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners CAUTION: External Email. Do not click links or open attachments unless verified. For all suspicious emails, please use thePhish Alert Button to submit for review. Thank you! Please read these comments about redistricting at the Lee County Board of Commissioners' meeting tonight, October 18. Thank you. Ann McCracken 919-774-4797 Following a 1989 lawsuit that prompted fairer election methods, Lee County acknowledged the need to "increase the opportunity for black voters to elect candidates of their choice to the Board, "increasing the Board to seven(7) Commissioners and changing the method of election from at-large to a hybrid system of four(4) single-member and three (3) at-large districts. Since then, District 1 has been the Board's only minority opportunity district and has consistently enabled Black voters to elect their candidate of choice. Under the proposed "Plan F," Commissioners have diluted the power of the Black vote in District 1, a district created with the explicit purpose of allowing Black voters to elect their candidate of choice, and they have done this in ways that potentially violate state and federal law. For example, Plan F significantly decreases the Black population in District 1 (-2.2%0, diluting black voting power,while significantly increasing the white population (+3.8%). Commissioners have not only ignored warnings from the county attorney against drawing maps using partisan data for political gain but also failed to solicit public comments on Plan F's potential changes to minority opportunity districts. Without a public hearing on Plan F, Lee County voters were denied the ability to ask questions, provide alternatives, and hold the Board accountable before it votes on the adoption of Plan F on October 18. The same tactics of excluding Black voters that led Lee County to change its election methods and placed the county under scrutiny of the voting Rights Act are at work again in the County Commission's Proposed Plan F. The Board should instead consider other options like its "Proposed Plan A,"which represents a map closest to the current composition of the districts, limits the population deviations of the Commission districts to acceptable levels, and does the best job pf preserving this Black opportunity district.