Redistricting comes to San Benito County

Every 10 years following the U.S. Census, the boundaries of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors districts are redrawn to reflect population gains and shifts within the county. This year, the final lines will be drawn by Dr. Jeff Tilton of the National Demographics Corporation, a demographer hired by the county to create the new district map after public input. 

Interested county residents are invited to participate in the process by attending public hearings, identifying the shared interests of their local communities, and even submitting their own maps showing how they think the districts should be redrawn.

“The Board of Supervisors gave general guidelines for the redistricting,” said San Benito County Clerk-Auditor-Recorder Joe Paul Gonzalez. “There are goals they would like to see accomplished. The districts, as much as possible, should not look gerrymandered, with long extensions to accommodate political parties. And they want the maps to take into account the planned homes, so they would end up in two or three districts rather than just one.”

There are also other considerations. Rural districts, for example, should not include parts of the more urban areas of the city to allow the new district to maintain focus on the very different needs of that community. Lines cannot be drawn in a way that guarantees a current supervisor will still live within a given district. And the districts have to include roughly the same amount of population, around 11,000 people.

There are three ways the public can immediately voice opinions and concerns about redistricting.  

The first is to fill out a Community of Interest Worksheet and submit it by email or in person at one of the upcoming public hearings. A community of interest is an area with common interests that might cause its residents to vote in a similar manner.  

The worksheet asks what bond there is within a particular community, such as common interests, that can be used to determine whether that area should be kept within a single district.

One example is Ridgemark, which is located in District 2. The last redistricting allowed the entire Ridgemark area to be included even though it created a lengthy extension into the more rural District 4.

A second way of participating is for members of the public to create their own district plans to submit using online map drawing tools. All the submitted maps may be viewed on a map alternative page on the county’s website.

The map-making tool helps guide the creation of districts by taking into account population totals and ethnicity data, factors that strongly influence final redistricting decisions.

The third way of providing input is to attend one of the two upcoming public hearings.

“At the next public hearing on Nov. 9,” Gonzalez said, “the demographer will be presenting the 13 maps that have been submitted to him so far. In addition, he will be presenting three versions of the map of his own. The public will have a chance to comment on them at that time.”

The second hearing is on Nov. 23, when the demographer will be presenting the final maps for public comment. A final vote on the maps is set for Dec. 14.

While it might seem that the supervisors would favor the work of the demographer over maps submitted by the public, that has not always been the case.

“This is why public input is important at every stage,” Gonzalez said. “My understanding is that there have been cases when a map submitted by a member of the public was voted in as the final map.”

The final result will define the voting districts within San Benito County, reflecting common interests within the communities in that district as best as it can, making public input critically important.

“You can’t just say this is black and white,” said Angela Curro, retired assistant clerk-recorder-registrar for San Benito County. “The board needs to come up with what is right for our community. And that is why we need more of the community to know about this so they can understand they have a voice. It really does matter to have people who are informed involved in the process and giving the board their opinions.”