Recently the Tennessee Senate passed a redistricting bill that determines voting districts for elected offices. This bill will be brought before the House, where it will be written into law or returned to the Senate.
A redistricting bill redefines voting areas for elected offices, and it can be used as a political tools to “gerrymander” voters into areas that favor certain parties.
While the majority of the bill is not controversial, there have been claims of gerrymandering the Knoxville and Nashville areas. This new proposal would split majority Democrat neighborhoods into Republican-dominated areas, potentially lowering the effective voting power of Democratic constituents. Davidson county in downtown Nashville will be split into three separate districts.
Some groups have called for this bill to be challenged in court, but the accusers must meet a high standard—they must prove that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against certain ethnic or racial groups in the redistricting process, rather than redrawing them along political lines.
Redistricting to account for population growth and changes is part of politics, and redefining them based on political affiliation is not illegal.
Discriminating by race, of course, is.
Needless to say, this accusation will be very difficult to maintain as there is no concrete evidence of any such intentions.
North-East Tennessee will stay mostly the same, meaning that anyone planning to run for office in this area will likely not have to worry about appealing to a new region. The majority of Tennessee’s population growth has happened in middle Tennessee, and as such, they have seen the most drastic changes.
As the redistricting bill moves to the State House, we will see if a revision is in order, or if it will pass unobstructed. Once this issue has been resolved, other bills will be brought to the floor, hopefully addressing other issues which are important to Tennessee residents.
