LITTLE ROCK — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Friday that the new 1st Congressional District map is correct and does not need to be changed by the Legislature.
House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas City, asked the attorney general to review the 1st District map after U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, suggested that two precincts in Jefferson County appeared to have been misplaced in congressional redistricting by the Legislature this year.
Crawford represents the 1st District, which was redrawn this year to take in three Southeastern Arkansas counties and part of Jefferson County. McDaniel said while the precincts in question are not specifically named in the redistricting legislation, they are located within the geographic boundaries of the voting districts the law correctly lists as being in the 1st District.
“In my opinion, this is the proper way to determine which congressional district includes the precinct at issue,” McDaniel said in the opinion. “Because this determination can be made based on the language of Act 1242, with a view to the Census data, I see no need for corrective legislation.”
The redistricting maps, which set out new congressional district boundaries, were approved by the Legislature and Gov. Mike Beebe signed the legislation into law in April.
In a statement released by his office Friday, Crawford said he was glad the attorney general issued the opinion, but that he would prefer the Legislature amend the redistricting law to add the names of the precincts to avoid possible further confusion.