Why is Phoenix Council District 6 shaped like that? Plus other redistricting questions
Arizona cities redistrict every decade after the U.S. Census count in an effort to ensure fair and equal representation at every level of government.
Phoenix City Council approved new boundaries in September, a move that affects how representation is set for the city's 1.6 million residents. Not every resident experienced a change of districts, but seven of the city's eight council members either added or subtracted constituents.
Here's what you need to know about Phoenix redistricting:
How many districts does Phoenix have?
Phoenix City Council has eight districts, meaning eight city council members, plus one mayor who serves the entire city. With a population of 1.6 million, each council member represents about 200,000 people.
Do not confuse city districts with Legislative districts, which are the boundaries that determine what which areas a state legislator represents. There are also Congressional districts, which are the boundaries that determine which areas representatives in the U.S. House preside over.
Arizona has 30 Legislative districts, each with almost 240,000 residents. The state has nine Congressional districts of about 795,000 residents.
Which Phoenix district am I in?
Here's a visual of the new City Council district map. It takes effect January 2024. Or, you can go to this link and type in your address to find your district: https://www.phoenix.gov/district6/whats-my-council-district.
Who is my City Council member?
Check which district you're in first. See above.
District 1: Ann O'Brien.
District 2: Jim Waring
District 3: Debra Stark
District 4: Laura Pastor
District 5: Betty Guardado
District 6: Kevin Robinson
District 7: Yassamin Ansari
District 8: Kesha Hodge Washington
Learn more about the Council: Who is on the Phoenix City Council? What to know
What rules does Phoenix have to follow when redistricting?
The main two rules are federal requirements that:
Each district be as equal as possible in terms of population.
The boundaries comply with the Voting Rights Act, which means districts cannot be drawn in a way that dilutes minority voting power.
Federal law requires municipalities with racially polarized voting — meaning where voters of specific races often vote similarly — to take steps to ensure minorities have a voice in elections. Usually, that means creating a minority-majority district, said Bruce Adelson, a former attorney for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Team overseeing Arizona.
In other words, if Hispanic voters tend to vote similarly, and if white voters tend to vote similarly but mostly different than Hispanic voters, and white voters make up the majority of a population, then Hispanic voters' efficacy reduces. The result is a racially discriminatory outcome, which the Voting Rights Act seeks to prevent.
Cities also try to:
Make districts compact and contiguous, meaning not gerrymandering oddly shaped districts for political motives.
Avoid separating communities of interest, like a historic neighborhood. This gets tricky, as municipalities have many factors to weigh. Sometimes, certain factors have to be prioritized over others.
Ensure "continuity of representation," which means keeping elected officials in their district when the lines are re-drawn. This is intended to keep as many voters as possible represented by the elected official they voted for.
This is inherently never guaranteed. The very nature of redistricting means some voters will be moved around. After the City Council approved the most recent map, for example, some 17,000 District 7 voters under Ansari were shifted to other districts. So, some of those voters may have elected Ansari, but now she doesn't represent them.
How many minority-majority districts does Phoenix have?
Phoenix has four majority Hispanic districts (Districts 4, 5, 7 and 8) and four majority white non-Hispanic districts (Districts 1, 2, 3, and 6).
Why is District 6 so weirdly shaped?
The barbell shape of District 6, which connects the Arcadia neighborhood on the north end with the Ahwatukee neighborhood in the city's south end, was drawn after the 2000 U.S. Census.
Despite decades of residents questioning the peculiar boundary line, city officials did not discuss reshaping it when they approved the new map in September.
So how'd it get this way? Previous reporting from The Arizona Republic shows the City Council in 2000 opted to connect Arcadia and Ahwatukee in one district to avoid potentially violating the Voting Rights Act.
South Phoenix has historically had the largest concentration of Black and Latino voters, and it still does. But Ahwatukee is mostly white. During the 2000 redistricting effort, Ahwatukee at about 76,000 residents was too small to constitute its own district but big enough that its voters would have diluted the efficacy of Black and Latino voters in south Phoenix to elect their council member of choice.
Tony Sisson, president of the city's then-redistricting consultant, Research Advisory Services, told The Republic in 2005 that combining Ahwatukee with the rest of south Phoenix was "impermissible by the Voting Rights Act."
In 2009, former Phoenix deputy city manager Rick Naimark, who worked on the city's redistricting efforts in 1990 and 2000, said the city also looked at similarities between Arcadia and Ahwatukee to justify the combination, including:
both area's average household incomes were above $80,000
both area's households were majority owner-occupied
More than 28% of residents in both areas had college degrees
How many council districts do other big cities have?
New York City at 8.8 million residents has 51 elected council members.
Los Angeles at 3.9 million residents has 15 elected council members.
Chicago at 2.7 million residents has 50 "aldermen" who make up the City Council.
Houston at 2.3 million residents has 16 council members.
Phoenix at 1.6 million residents has 8 council members.
Philadelphia at 1.6 million residents has 16 council members: 10 that represent districts and 6 that serve at-large.
Why doesn't Phoenix have more councilmembers?
Phoenix's City charter, which serves as the city constitution, outlines eight districts and one mayor. While council members recently have advocated for adding city districts, doing so would require a charter change.
Charter changes require the approval of voters, which means the City Council has to send the question to voters on whether they want the city to add districts before the city can do it.
Multiple council members, including Ansari, Stark and Waring, have expressed interest. City staff have said the City Council can consider sending the question to voters after January 2024, when the new maps take effect. If voters approve adding districts, then the city would need to contract a redistricting consultant to begin that process.
Reporter Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix City Council redistricting: Why is District 6 weirdly shaped
