Defining communities of interest: political self-definition in Los Angeles County during the first California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission

Abstract

This study analyzes how the 2010 establishment of the California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission allowed communities to assert their presence and define their borders in order to protect their political influence. I examine the use of the term “communities of interest” in public comments submitted for Los Angeles County to the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission in the period from January 1st to August 15th, 2011, to discover who participated in California’s redistricting process, how stakeholders used the term “communities of interest”, and when this tactic was successfully used to achieve the creation of political boundaries. Using ArcGIS software, I identify associations between participation in the commenting process and the demographic makeup, economic status, and population density of participating communities. In addition, I identify three primary types of advocate groups who argue for redistricting on behalf of a proclaimed “community of interest”—environmental advocate groups, suburban advocate groups, and minority advocate groups. I analyze their effectiveness for these three causes in obtaining their goals in the redistricting process. These findings have important implications for understanding how the shift from a top-down redistricting model to a grassroots model may allow for an “un-gerrymandering” of the American political landscape, wherein politically motivated districting is reimagined in a community-defined process. Grassroots redistricting may provide a model for diverse communities to express common goals; this project increases understanding of the usage of “communities of interest” in this practice.