The McComb city board voted 5-1 to approve a redistricting plan at Tuesday night’s meeting, despite heavy opposition from one selectman.
Selectman Tammy Witherspoon opposed the plan, which will be further discussed during a 5 p.m. public hearing on Oct. 2.
The law allows the city board to hold a public hearing before approving a plan, but the board also can choose a plan before having a public hearing, board attorney Wayne Dowdy said.
Witherspoon said she wanted to get public input before selecting a plan.
“I think we have time to do a public hearing,” she said.
Witherspoon voiced concerns at a recent work session that the plan — one of three the board reviewed — would stack the city’s five wards with black voters.
According to 2010 Census figures, McComb’s population has fallen by 560 since 2000. The city lost a quarter of its white residents, while the number of black residents has grown by 8.9 percent since 2000. Population totals by city ward also show that four of the city’s wards are now majority-black instead of three.
The redistricting plans drafted by Bobby Smith of Gin Branch Consulting focused on keeping Ward 2 as a potential swing vote in city elections.
The ward has been majority-white and is represented by Michael Cameron, a white Republican.
Redistricting proposals adopted Tuesday show that while Ward 2 now is majority-black, it would have more white residents of voting age than blacks.
Smith presented numbers from the last city election that showed how under current lines a white candidate won an election in a majority-black district.
Officials said the plan can still be changed after the hearing, before it is sent to the Justice Department for final approval.
However, Witherspoon was adamant about having a hearing first because “it affects our constituents as much as it affects us,” she said.
Other selectmen did not share that concern.
“I don’t understand the fear with endorsing one today,” Selectman Tommy McKenzie said.
Witherspoon made a motion that a hearing be scheduled first, but that effort died for lack of a second.
