The Hollister City Council held a special meeting regarding Hollister’s redistricting on Nov. 13. Shelley Lapkoff and Robin Merrill, from Lapkoff and Gobalet Demographic Research, gave presentations on the legal guidelines that demographers follow, the California’s FAIR MAPS Act, and a tutorial for the council and public on how to use the remapping software for redistricting the city.
The meeting was the first of four public hearings to take place before redistricting is completed. According to Lapkoff, cities need to be redistricted every 10 years. She said that Hollister needs to do so based on the 2020 census “to adjust city council districts, and to make sure the council district’s total populations are relatively equal.”
Lapkoff assured the council that if incumbent members no longer live in their council districts, “they will complete their term of office, regardless of where they live.”
She said that with Hollister’s population of 41,934, the districts are not evenly divided and are not following state guidelines.
“Federal laws say council districts need to be relatively equal in population,” she said. “A 10% deviation is permitted.”
Lapkoff said the 2020 Census showed that District 1 currently has 11,045 people, District 2 has 11,165 people, District 3 has 10,284 people and District 4 has 9,440 people.
“Districts 1 and 2 are too large, and district three is smaller than normal,” she said. “Council District 4 is too small; 10% below the size it should be. This gives you a planned deviation of 16.5%, and we are aiming for under 10%, so you must adjust your boundaries.”
Lapkoff said that when redistricting, such factors as the Federal Voting Rights Act—which allows geographically compacted minority and politically cohesive groups to have the ability to elect representatives of their choice—must be considered. However, “cracking” and “packing”—purposely dividing minority groups among several districts or denying minority groups to be part of other districts are prohibited (see picture example).
Elia Salinas approached the council and gave her suggestions and concerns regarding the council’s redistricting plans.
“All I ask is when you start going through these maps, that it’s not self-serving to you in your current district,” Salinas said. “If it’s going to change a couple of blocks and those are the blocks that you’re familiar with, and you know those neighbors, don’t make a decision based on you wanting those blocks back.”
Councilmember Tim Burns alluded to Salinas’ concerns about having the demographer staff, instead of the City Council, decide on the final redistricting decision.
“I absolutely think that staff should look at [the maps] submitted as opposed to council, because obviously it could be perceived as us having an interest, which we may have or may not,” Burns said. “So having an independent set of eyes on it that understands the technology, I think would be very helpful.”
California’s FAIR MAPS Act says that residents should be encouraged to participate in the redistricting process and that the council should keep the redistricting website up for 10 years. The act also says there should be translation services at city council meetings upon request, and that the city should offer ways for the public to provide testimony and feedback in writing and electronically. The public also needs to have access to demographic/mapping data and software.
The City Council has already adopted online mapping software so members of the public can submit plans. Merrill demonstrated the software for the council as well as the public in this video.
The next scheduled public hearings are Dec. 11, Jan. 8 and Jan. 18.
Lapkoff said Hollister has a deadline to adopt new boundaries by April 17, which she said it is currently on track to meet.
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