With Census count coming reapportionment is on the way

The 10-year Census count is on April 1, 2020, and demographer Mike Hefner urged the St. Landry Parish Council give him the green light to begin his work.
Hefner, of Geographic Planning and Demographic Services, spoke to the Council’s Administrative-Finance Committee on Sept. 4 about the Census and reapportionment.
Much of the count will be done electronically, he said. In the past people received post cards and long forms, but the Census count is likely to use phones and computers, he said.
“The big problem has always been that people don’t respond to the Census,” he said.
“They don’t respond. They don’t get counted then that means that the parish has a lot of people that you are representing and that you are having to service that you are not getting the federal dollars, you are not getting the state dollars that you deserve because you under-counted,” he said.
If people don’t want to give other information such as income, it is important they get counted, he said.
Much of the detail information on residents is collected through the American Community Survey, he said. The regular Census doesn’t ask as many questions now.
Hefner urged the Council to reach out to residents to let people know it is important to respond to the Census.
Hefner is seeking a contract with the Council and School Board to do reapportionment, which is based on the Census count.
The Council election districts must be within 5% plus or minus of each other in numbers.
Hefner hopes to work with the Council and School Board so the district boundaries are the same.
Another issue is to reduce the number of precincts in the parish, he said.
Hefner’s goal is to reduce them by 20% to 25%. There are 94 voting precincts in St. Landry Parish.
Reducing the number of precincts may help the parish when legislative districts are drawn, he said.
The parish has been cut into five representative districts with only one entirely in the parish. There are four senate districts and no senator solely represents St. Landry Parish, he said.
“One reason they can do that is because they take advantage of those small precincts and they nibble around to balance their numbers. Well, if they have bigger precincts then you get bigger areas that they have to take into account,” he said.
Another factor is the average cost of precinct is $3,000, he said. Reducing the number of election precincts will save money, he said.