By Michael Cass
April 13, 2011

The Metro Council approved new lines for the 35 council districts Tuesday, quickly
wrapping up a process that was accelerated to account for elections that are just a few months away.

The council approved the redistricting plan less than a month after the city received
2010 census data that showed Nashville and Davidson County grew by 56,790 people, or 10 percent, in 10 years.

The population grew significantly in the southeastern and southwestern quadrants.

Each of the 35 new council districts must have a population within 5 percent of 17,905 people, up from about 16,200 after the 2000 census, which means fast-growing districts had to shrink geographically.

The council has 40 members, but five are elected at-large.

The Davidson County election administrator, Albert Tieche, said the quick action would leave more than five weeks for candidates to qualify for this summer’s council elections by the May 19 deadline.

Some who already qualified during the past two months might have to gather more signatures from registered Davidson County voters to reflect their new districts — or the fact that some of their petition signers were drawn into other districts.

“It’s less than 20 percent that have to make any change,” Tieche said.

Earlier this year, civil rights attorney George Barrett threatened to sue the city if it didn’t redraw the district lines in time for the Aug. 4 elections.

Barrett said some districts had far too many people in them after a decade of growth, meaning those residents had less access to their elected representatives.

The council had to approve the lines the Metro Planning Commission sent forward
on March 31 or propose its own lines, which would have forced a countywide referendum so voters could choose between the two maps.

After some early jawboning about the Planning Department’s initial efforts, council members wound up approving the commission’s final version without discussion Tuesday.

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