The boundaries for areas represented by our individual elected officials can be critically important to how our representatives are elected, and how that representation affects various issues that come before the governmental bodies that serve us. Back in 2012, Los Angeles went through a big redistricting of its City Council districts, which wound up changing several of our local Council District boundaries.
This year, a similar effort is coming up for Los Angeles County, to redraw the boundaries of the districts represented by our LA County Board of Supervisors, the body that oversees county-level services ranging from the response to the COVID-19 crisis to the new LACMA redevelopment project, and many, many other things.
Applications are now open for residents to join the first-ever Citizens Redistricting Commission for LA County, which will be convened after the 2020 Census to adjust Supervisorial District boundaries based on current population numbers. Â (Drawing boundaries for legislative districts of all kinds is just one reason the census is so important – be sure to respond today if you haven’t already done so!)
According to a County notice about the redistricting effort:
“In 2016, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 958 requiring Los Angeles County to assemble the Citizens Redistricting Commission following the federal census.
Every 10 years the boundaries of Los Angeles County’s Supervisorial Districts shall be adjusted so that each district is reasonably equal in population, geographically contiguous, and the boundaries shall take into account the topography, geography, cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, compactness of territory, and community of interest of the Supervisorial Districts.
The adjusting, or redrawing, of boundaries is designed to ensure that local legislatures are representative of the County’s population. How and where districts are drawn can shape a community’s ability to elect the representative of their choice.”
To apply for the Commission, you must:
- Be a resident of Los Angeles County
- Have been continuously registered to vote in Los Angeles County for the past five years
- Have not changed your political party affiliation within the past five years
- Have voted in at least one of the last three statewide elections (e.g., June 2018, November 2018, March 2020)
- Not have any disqualifying conflicts of interest
- Not have a family member with any disqualifying conflicts of interest.
Applicants will be selected for geographic, social and ethnic diversity.
If you are interested in applying, go to https://lavote.net/2020-citizens-redistricting-commission and fill out the contact form to request an online application. A link to the application form will be sent via e-mail within 12 hours.
The deadline for applications is August 31.
