December 1, 2021 (Sent by Email and US Mail)
TO:
Supervisor Bill Connelly, Chair, 2020 Lincoln Street, Oroville, CA 95966 BConnelly [at] ButteCounty.net
Supervisor Debra Lucero, 269 E. Third Street, Suite 100, Chico, CA 95928, DLucero [at] ButteCounty.net
Supervisor Tami Ritter, 196 Memorial Way, Chico, CA 95926 TRitter [at] ButteCounty.net
Supervisor Tod Kimmelshue, 239 Sycamore Street, Gridley, CA 95948 TKimmelshue [at] ButteCounty.net
Supervisor Doug Teeter, 747 Elliott Road, Paradise, CA 95969 DTeeter [at] ButteCounty.net
ClerkoftheBoard [at] ButteCounty.net
RE: Requirements of the CA Fair Maps Act in Supervisorial Redistricting Decisions
Dear Supervisors:
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization; we do not support or oppose political candidates or political parties. Our mission is to encourage informed and active participation in government, increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influence public policy through education and advocacy.
The League of Women Voters, on the national, state, and local level, takes the position that to be fair, districts should be drawn in a transparent manner by politically independent special commissions that use unbiased criteria to help keep communities intact and to ensure that everyone is equally represented. The CA Citizen’s Redistricting Commission now does this for state-level offices. The Butte County Board of Supervisors could have chosen that approach. Instead, the Board is drawing the new district lines itself with the assistance of a consulting firm. However, having made that choice, the Board is still bound by the law which lays out the criteria which must be followed by whoever is empowered to create new district lines.
As the Board of Supervisors is still considering which map to adopt, it is important to reiterate the Fair Maps Act criteria listed in CA Elections Code Section 21500(c). The criteria, listed in descending order of priority, are:
“(1) To the extent practicable, supervisorial districts shall be geographically contiguous.…..
(2) To the extent practicable, the geographic integrity of any local neighborhood or local community of interest shall be respected in a manner that minimizes its division.….
(3) To the extent practicable, the geographic integrity of a city or census designated place shall be respected in a manner that minimizes its division.
(4) Supervisorial district boundaries should be easily identifiable and understandable by residents. To the extent practicable, supervisorial districts shall be bounded by natural and artificial barriers, by streets, or by the boundaries of the county.
(5) To the extent practicable, and where it does not conflict with the preceding criteria in this subdivision, supervisorial districts shall be drawn to encourage geographical compactness in a manner that nearby areas of population are not bypassed in favor of more distant populations.”
Following that list of required criteria, Elections CodeSection 21500(d) makes this absolute prohibition: “The board shall not adopt supervisorial district boundaries for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against a political party.”
We assume that all supervisors strive to act in the best interests of their constituents and Butte County as a whole. We hope that among the interests the five current supervisors work to protect is the example of a legislative body that follows state and federal law in its redistricting activities.
Sincerely,
Satsie Veith, President, LWVBC
and the LWVBC Board
