Map of Smith County's 82 election precincts as of Sept. 1, 2012. (Smith County Elections Office) 

Smith County has hired a law firm to draw new election precincts in 2021, after the 2020 census results come in.

The Smith County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a contract with the Austin-based law firm Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado, Acosta LLP at a regular meeting Tuesday.

The county redraws its election precincts every decade, after results from the U.S. Census are updated to determine if there are any changes in the population, according to Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran.

“The importance is easily understood in making sure that all of the people are represented equally in the way our governments are formed in this county, and that’s what redistricting is about,” he said.

“(It’s) making sure that one district doesn’t have a greater say than another district and by really a per-capita view, and also making sure that our minority groups are represented appropriately and that the government is representative of the people it represents,” he said.

Depending on the census results, Moran said the precincts that could be redrawn include seats on the Commissioners Court, the five constable precincts, and the five justice of the peace precincts. Other local governments would need to go through a similar process.

“We want to get a head start and go ahead and retain the firm we know we want to use during redistricting so they can brecincts the process during the census process so we make sure that we do it accurately and we participate fully and we have an accurate count of who’s in our county so that we can redistrict appropriately,” Moran said.

The 2010 census counted 96,900 people in Tyler, and 209,725 in Smith County. Projections from the U.S. Census Bureau said that in 2018 there were 105,729 people in Tyler and 230,221 people in Smith County.

Countywide efforts have been underway for the past year to prepare for the 2020 census. Last year, the Commissioners Court appointed members to the Complete Count Committee, a group of more than a dozen elected officials and community members seeking to maximize participation in the 2020 Census.

A regional transportation agency administered by the city of Tyler started the Complete Count Committee in partnership with the federal government. The agency said last year it also has an interest in an accurate census because the population numbers affect federal funding for road projects.

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