SALISBURY — With Salisbury’s municipal election in November quickly approaching, a federal judge this week approved the city’s new five-member redistricting plan.
A U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday ruled Salisbury has fulfilled its court requirement for finalizing a new redistricting plan approved by the City Council last September. Essentially, the judge ruled Salisbury’s new five election district plan, which has been endorsed by the ACLU and the NAACP, meets the standards defined in a consent decree issued in 1987 after a challenge was filed against the city by its minority voters. With just around six weeks remaining before the municipal election on the first Tuesday in November, the court ruling issued this week approves the redistricting plan as meeting the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1986, the city’s African-American voters, through the ACLU Foundation of Maryland, challenged Salisbury’s at-large election system on the grounds it did not guarantee fair representation for minorities. The issue was resolved in U.S. District Court by entry of a consent decree in 1987, which created one single-member district with a majority-minority population electing one member of the City Council and a second majority-white multimember district electing the four other council members.
That system remained in place for decades until the 2010 U.S. Census indicated a shift in Salisbury’s general demographic makeup with the city becoming more racially diverse than it had previously been. For example, the 2010 Census revealed Salisbury’s population was around 53 percent white and 34 percent African-American, which was double the percentage when the 1987 consent decree as handed down.
In an effort to redraw the election district lines to reflect the changes in the city’s population, a redistricting process was initiated, but progress was slow. Mayor Jim Ireton in 2012 proposed a five-district plan including two districts with majority-minority populations, but the proposal stalled and was not adopted.
Last September, Ireton again proposed the five-district plan with two majority-minority districts, which was ultimately adopted by the City Council. However, the redistricting plan still needed to pass muster with the consent decree handed down in 1987 and approval from a U.S. District Court judge. That approval was handed down on Wednesday.
“This is a well-deserved moment for our city,” said Ireton. “Again, this approval reflects a changing Salisbury and is a victory for our residents, for diversity and for the underserved parts of our city.”