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State of the Bay

California Redistricting

Host: Lauren Meltzer

Producer: Lisa Denenmark 

In November, Californians voted a second time to remove elected representatives from the redistricting process, or the drawing of electoral boundaries. Voters gave that authority to a newly formed Citizens Redistricting Commission.

On Friday, the 14-member Commission composed of 5 Republicans, 5 Democrats and 4 independents approved the maps and lines that will affect state elections for the next 10 years AND that will determine how communities are grouped, represented or silenced, in the political process.

Tonight we’ll get in between those lines to ask:

 

  • Which groups engaged the redistricting process and to what effect?
  • Do the maps reflect California’s shifting political geography and demographics?
  • Can 38 million people be appeased?

 

Guests:

  • Commissioner Connie Galambos Malloy of California's Citizens Redistricting Commission. She is also the Senior Director of Programs at Urban Habitat, a regional community-action organization that works on policy, advocacy, and movement and leadership building for low-income communities and communities of color.
  • Paul Mitchell, head of Sacramento-based Redistricting Partners, a political redistricting firm working at the state, county and local level to help governments and outside-interest groups navigate the redistricting process.
  •  Carlo De La Cruz, Special Projects Coordinator for the Asian Law Caucus, where he manages the voting rights project and has worked to organize the Asian American & Pacific Islander Communities in San Francisco and San Mateo County to engage in the state-wide redistricting process since 2009. He is also a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.