“First, it’s making sure that resources came to our community and making sure they had an opportunity to win political power. “Census and redistricting is sort of a two-part fight,” he said. James Woodson, policy director for the California Black Census and Redistricting Hub, said the fight for Black political power in California is far from over. And their real impact depends on what voters decide. The new districts are likely to be challenged in court. The secretary of state notified county election clerks of the error on Dec. But a day later, in just the latest foul-up, the commission said that it had mistakenly sent the wrong Assembly maps, affecting a dozen counties. The commission submitted a 221-page final report to the secretary of state. We know that not everyone will be happy, but I feel that they are fair maps for Californians,” she told CalMatters.Ĭalifornia Common Cause - which pushed voters to create the independent panel - also defended the commission: “While the process was at times messy, it was an exercise in democracy done in public,” with 150 meetings and more than 36,000 public comments. “There was robust discussion in terms of how these maps should be drawn. In the last few weeks, the panel held a number of marathon sessions late into the night to hear public comment and try to incorporate competing testimony into the maps.Ĭommission chairperson Alicia Fernández acknowledged that there were constraints and disagreements along the way, but said she was proud of the commission’s work given the rules they were under. 27 despite a nearly six-month delay in the release of census data. The commission was under the pressure of a court-ordered deadline to submit the maps to the secretary of state by Dec. As they did live line-drawing, commissioners referenced these maps, along with the feedback they were getting. In 2021, it is far easier for advocacy groups and others to submit their own maps – and respond to mapping decisions in real time. Your guide to the 2022 general election in California In some cases, it puts incumbents into the same district, or forces others to appeal to new voters to be re-elected. And to create fair maps, the commission didn’t consider current district lines and isn’t supposed to weigh partisan politics. In addition to balancing population numbers, the commission had to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, ensuring that no minority group’s vote is drowned out. It’s the second time that California’s redrawing is being done by a 14-member independent commission.īut it hasn’t been easy, or without contention. Redistricting happens once every 10 years, after every census, to ensure that each district has the same amount of people. These districts take effect with the June 2022 primaries and continue for the next decade. Here are some key points on the new maps.Ĭalifornia voters have the brand new districts they’ll use to elect their members of Congress and state legislators, after the state’s independent redistricting commission voted unanimously on Dec. California’s independent commission adopted final congressional and legislative districts for the next decade, starting with 2022 elections.
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