SUBMITTED ANNOUNCEMENT
Hispanics for Fair Representation is a non-partisan group made up of concerned individuals in Nevada’s Hispanic community. We are committed to fighting for each Nevadan’s right to have his or her legislative and congressional districts drawn in a way that provides fair and equal representation.
As members of the Hispanic community—which is now 26 percent of Nevada’s total population—we are particularly interested in ensuring Nevada’s significant Hispanic population has equal opportunities to elect candidates of its choice. The Federal Voting Rights Act offers our community certain protections in the redistricting process, and we will not support any plan that does not fully comply with the law. We thank Governor Sandoval for vetoing plans that violated the Voting Rights Act and were unfair to all Nevadans.
Today we are proposing our own plans for Congress, State Senate and State Assembly. We have only drawn the Hispanic opportunity districts that the law requires. Because of the demands of the Voting Rights Act, all potential maps must begin with these (or similar) Hispanic opportunity districts: one majority-Hispanic district in Congress; four majority-Hispanic districts in the State Senate; and eight majority-Hispanic districts in the State Assembly. To not draw these or similar opportunity districts is to violate the law.
We have waited until the end of the current legislative session to produce these maps, because we had hoped that the legislature would respond to Governor Sandoval’s requests and pass a fair and lawful plan. That does not seem likely now. Nevertheless, we wanted our voices and our desires placed on the public record, and we want to be a part of the important public discourse and debate on redistricting.
Our proposed plans can be found on the website of the Legislative Counsel Bureau: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Division/Research/Districts/Reapp/2011/PubProposals.cfm
Signed:
Alex Garza
[email protected]
Juan Martinez
Jaime Velez
Noah Herrera
Miguel Navarez
Brenda Beltran
Javier Barajas
