2011 REDISTRICTING

The BOS held two public hearings in Fort Bragg August 16, 2011and in Ukiah on August 23, 2011 on this matter. Public input is now closed and the Supervisors have moved forward with approval of the Modified Option A redistricting proposal.

The redistricting process occurs once every decade, following the federal census. The process impacts your representation by defining who is included in our voting ‘neighborhood.’ If your neighborhood encompasses areas where people have very different interests, your views may not be effectively represented. California Proposition 11, passed in 2008, reassigned the duty of establishing boundaries for the State Assembly, State Senate, and Board of Equalization districts to a citizen’s committee. In 2010 California Proposition 20 was passed, adding the electoral boundaries of U.S. House of Representatives seats to the committee’s responsibilities. The League of Women Voter have published several articles on the local and state processes. Final maps for the State process are located at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.

Local redistricting was unaffected and is still covered under Division 21 of the California Elections Code. This time around, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) appointed an Advisory Committee that began to hold weekly public hearings May 4. The local redistricting committee recommended supervisorial boundary changes at the July 23, 2011 BOS meeting. You can review their minutes and maps at this link. The committee presented their final option maps to the Board of Supervisors on July 26, 2011. Earlier Option Maps A-E show prior versions that were considered, but rejected.

The WMAC favored Option A, A2, Modified A, or B2, which maintain coastal representation. It opposed Option E2 because coastal representation would be severely compromised. The WMAC sent two letters to the Redistricting Committee and provided oral testimony to the BOS. Public comments received by the redistricting committee through July 6, 2011 can be accessed here.