Redistricting is about the power of voters at the ballot box and fair representation in a democracy.
🔹At the State Level
The League of Women Voters of California was a leader in the movement to establish the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, the Fair Maps Act and AB 764 that established the criteria for fair redistricting.
California is one of eight states with an independent commission in charge of drawing boundaries for its electoral maps. The passage of a ballot measure in 2008 took redistricting power away from the Legislature for state Assembly and Senate districts. In 2010, voters added congressional redistricting to the commission’s duties.
Cities and counties are also allowed to have independent commissions under the Fair Maps Act, but it’s not a requirement. In October 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required counties with more than 300,000 residents to set up independent redistricting commissions. Currently eight counties have independent redistricting commissions and other counties are working to create them.
🔹The League and Redistricting
Voting rights and voting access are the bedrock of the League of Women Voters. To that end, the San Luis Obispo County League has challenged the Board of Supervisors to provide fair access through their oversight of voting districts.
After the 2020 census and the adoption by the Board of Supervisors of a map in 2021 that the League deemed unfair, the League along with SLO County Citizens for Good Government, sued the County to invalidate the map. The lawsuit resulted in a settlement in March 2023 that set aside the 2021 map and required the adoption of a new map. After that settlement the League petitioned the Board for a designated supervisor for those citizens who were “orphaned” by the adoption of the new, more representative map.
Following the settlement that threw out the flawed map, the Board agreed to pursue an independent redistricting commission to determine how the county's districts should be drawn.
Because the League has championed the creation of an independent redistricting commission, we offered written and oral comment in favor of establishing an independent redistricting commission at the Board’s meeting on January 16, 2024. At that meeting the Board directed staff to work with Senator John Laird’s staff to introduce special legislation* to establish an independent redistricting commission for San Luis Obispo County. The specifics of this legislation, who could serve on it and how exactly it would function, are still being worked out.
*Special legislation is a legal term of art used to refer to legislation that targets an individual or a small, identifiable group for treatment that does not apply to all the members of a given class.
This page will post updates, as they are available, on the process of instituting an independent redistricting commission.
Click here to watch our 6/17/24webinar on the Future of Redistricting for SLO County
Click here to read the letter from LWV California supporting SB 977. 5/29/24
Click here to see the League's comments to the BOS. 1/16/24
Click here to see the League's comments to the BOS. 9/10/23
Click here to learn more about California’s IRC
Click here to learn more about the LWV and the Fair Maps Act