This is the first in a series of articles on redistricting the county to provide better representation by the Board of Supervisors, as well as other districts, including the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista and their school and water districts.
Acting as San Benito County’s demographer, Jeff Tilton, a senior consultant and vice president of National Demographics Corporation, gave the first of nine presentations slated for public hearings and town halls to inform residents about the redistricting process that takes place every 10 years in conjunction with the U.S. census. These boundaries will only apply to the board of supervisors’ districts.
Census data is used to draw new maps to account for population shifts across states and districts. Redistricting brings districts back into compliance with the one-person-one vote mandate of the federal and state constitutions. New boundaries determine which residents are represented by each elected official, according to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. This process also reallocates U.S. House seats among the states to ensure that seats are held in proportion to the size of state populations.
Four members of the public attended the Sept. 27 public hearing. The hope is that as word spreads more residents will come to future meetings, in particular the town halls, where they will be able to give their input on how they would like to see their communities mapped.
Tilton said the 2020 census data was released Aug. 12. He said because of COVID-related delays, the timeline for completing the redistricting process has been compressed. Normally, he said, the process would have gone from March to Dec. 15, but the state was only able to adjust the census data last week, while the Dec. 15 deadline remains unchanged. Maps will not be made public until Dec. 20.
He said the first few meetings will present the same information, but at the Nov. 9 meeting the public will see the first maps. At that meeting, he said the supervisors’ job will be to begin narrowing down map choices that will ultimately lead to a final map of the county that determines supervisorial districts of equal population until after the 2030 census.
“We must follow the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965,” he said. “We don’t want to have any discriminatory practices or racial gerrymandering [the manipulation of an electoral constituency’s boundaries so as to favor one party or class or protect party lines to keep incumbents in power].”
Under California’s 2019 Fair Maps Act, he said districts must be geographically continuous. Neighborhoods or communities of interest where people have shared social or economic interests, such as homeowners associations, should not be divided. In addition, cities and census-designated places need to have easily identifiable boundaries, such as highways, canals or parks. Districts should be compact, meaning they should not extend out like “octopus tentacles,” which he said would cause allegations of political gerrymandering. Also, there should be no discrimination against political parties.
“At the public hearings we’re asking folks, ‘What is your neighborhood?’” he said. “What are some of the geographic boundaries? In the absence of public testimony, we can use planning records, such as general plans.”
He said the hope is to generate public interest by having representatives at the San Benito County Fair on Oct. 1-3 and then at the scheduled public hearings and town halls. There are public mapping tools, such as Draw my CA Community or ArcGIS, which residents can use to draw their own maps or look at other maps before they submit them to the Board of Supervisors for consideration. He said people can even draw their maps on a napkin if they want. There is an online county public mapping tool called District R, or even a public participation kit to draw maps on an Excel spreadsheet for those who do not have internet access.
During the week of Oct. 3-9 there will be three town halls:
- Oct. 6: California National Armory (Hollister Municipal Airport) at 1 p.m.
- Oct. 9: Immaculate Conception Church at 10 a.m.
- Oct. 9: Calaveras Elementary School at 2 p.m.
Dates of other town halls and public hearings:
- Oct. 22: A town hall at San Juan Bautista Community Center at 4 p.m.
- Oct. 26: A public hearing at the Board of Supervisors (BOS) chambers, 10 a.m.
- Nov. 9: A public hearing at the BOS chambers at 10 a.m. to review drafts of district maps.
- Nov. 23: A public hearing at the BOS chambers at 10 a.m. to review drafts of district maps.
- Dec. 14: A public hearing for ordinance approval at the BOS chambers.
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