Two members of California\u2019s Citizens Redistricting Commission joined a press briefing hosted by Ethnic Media Services on Oct. 11 to discuss the process of drawing new political boundaries for the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sara Sadhwani, chair of the commission, and colleague Linda Akutagawa joined Paul Mitchell, a national expert on redistricting and demographics, to discuss the process in California\u200b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most under-appreciated, but also one of the most important jobs out there,\u201d Akutagawa said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that all of us have a voice in this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
California is a pioneer in efforts to end the traditional political \u201cgerrymandering\u201d that for centuries has enabled incumbent politicians to choose their voters via the redistricting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Typically, this was done by making districts less competitive, either by \u201cpacking\u201d voters expected to vote a certain way together so their views aren\u2019t reflected in neighboring districts, or \u201ccracking\u201d communities into several larger districts where their voices will be drowned out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By passing 2008\u2019s Prop. 11 and 2010\u2019s Prop. 20, California voters have tried to de-politicize the redistricting process by taking it out of the purview of state legislators and establishing a nonpartisan redistricting commission. (Prop. 11 only covered the state legislature, Prop. 20 added Congressional districts.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Sadhwani and Akutagawa said they applied to the commission in part to help ensure it would be representative of California\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis would give our community, in this particular case, the Asian American community a voice on the commission,\u201d Akutagawa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following California\u2019s example, another eight states now have redistricting commissions, although debates continue on how to best make them truly non-partisan, for instance, in the process of selecting the commissioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty esoteric idea,\u201d said Sara Sadhwani, chair of the redistricting commission, a mother of three and a professor of political science at Pomona College.
\u201cIt\u2019s not something moms sit around talking about on a regular basis, or at the water cooler or over coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
California, like every other state in the country, is redrawing voting districts based on changes in population in the past decade, as seen in new data from the 2020 Census.
California\u200b has growing Latino and Asian communities\u200b, noted Paul Mitchell, who runs Redistricting Partners. The Asian community, he said, has not become as widely dispersed as the Latino\/Hispanic community has across the state, tending to instead add population to already established communities. \u200bMeanwhile Black populations in California\u200b are tending to disperse throughout the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voter turnout patterns also come into play, \u200bwith Latino voters typically less likely to vote than African American voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But racial characteristics aren\u2019t the whole ballgame\u200b, Mitchell noted. Voting districts still have to be \u201ccompact, contiguous and makes sense,\u201d and also consider \u201ccommunities of interest\u201d that share, for example, language, culture, schools, commonalities in the amenities and services its people use, or characteristics such as being renters, or being homeowners.
\u201cThe idea,\u201d Mitchell said, \u201cis to draw them into districts where they can affect the outcome of an election or they can have better representative or voting power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel is continuing to hold meetings and hearings, in person and online, to gather community input. Information on these, currently scheduled through Dec. 22, is available at wedrawthelines.ca.gov\/hearings\/. Final maps have to be submitted to the secretary of state by Dec. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really in a phase of assessing to what extent can we be responsive to the communities of interest testimony that we received while at the same time upholding our obligations to historically excluded communities under the Voting Rights Act,\u201d Sadhwani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
California also has a Fair Maps Act that applies to local government redistricting, adding transparency and rules against partisanship or emphasizing incumbent interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, Mitchell said, \u201cjust because we\u2019ve changed these laws doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ve eliminated some of the gerrymandering we might see in local redistricting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mitchell demonstrated proposed maps in Riverside and Orange counties where minority blocks had been \u201ccracked\u201d to where there were no \u201cmajority minority\u201d districts, despite those counties\u2019 demographics, thereby diluting their representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redistricting follows close on the heels of the reapportionment process that divides the 435 seats in Congress among the 50 states to ensure that those officials all represent the same number of people \u2013 now, about 760,066 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2020 Census found that California has not been growing as fast as other parts of the country since 2010, so it will lose one of its 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas, by contrast, will gain three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So California has to draw new boundaries to divide the state into 52 congressional districts instead of 53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also has to establish 80 political districts for the 80 state assembly seats, 40 for the state senate, and four for the State Board of Equalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b\u201cWhat does it take to have elected officials actually be responsive to the communities they serve? We know communities on the ground have real needs. Those needs and concerns really mean a lot to me,\u201d Sadhwani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are truly a citizens\u2019 commission. The majority of us are not political individuals. That is truly what we have brought to this commission,\u201d Akutagawa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two members of California\u2019s Citizens Redistricting Commission joined a press briefing hosted by Ethnic Media Services on Oct. 11 to discuss the process of drawing new political boundaries for the next decade. Sara Sadhwani, chair of the commission, and colleague Linda Akutagawa joined Paul Mitchell, a national expert on redistricting and demographics, to discuss the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":48931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17992],"coauthors":[18445],"class_list":["post-50137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ethnic-media-services","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n