Redistricting from a Community Perspective

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Commentary Redistricting from a Community Perspective Deanna Kitamura* Asian Pacific American Legal Center With the filing of petitions to overturn the California state legislative and congressional maps drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, we have started to hear how the state political machinery views the recently adopted electoral maps. If the petitions qualify for the ballot, the votes cast in November 2012 may be driven by statewide party politics or goals for incumbency protec- tion more than anything else. However, before voters go to the polls, they should consider whether the lines provide their community fair and effective representation. Copyright © 2011 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved. www.bepress.com/cjpp Volume 3, Issue 3, 2011 Redistricting is done every 10 years after the census to equalize population in each district so residents’ voices are not diluted. Proposition 11, the 2008 initiative that created the commission, required the commission to respect neigh- borhoods and communities of interest to the same degree that it respected cities and counties. The proposition also required the commission to prioritize the Voting Rights Act, a federal law that requires racial groups to make up a majority of a district’s citizen voting age population in areas where race tends to be a strong factor in how the electorate votes. Why is it important to keep communities together? A community that is divided into multiple districts may not *Deanna Kitamura is the statewide redistricting man- ager at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of the Asian American Center of Advancing Justice. Dur- ing the state redistricting process, she worked with com- munity partners to ensure that AAPI communities in Cali- fornia were engaged in the process.