Redistricting panel seeks diversity

tor’s office, which is responsible for putting together the panel that will handle the post2020 redistricting.

Diversity is important not just by gender, but also by political party, geography, ethnicity and even economic status, Fernández said. And gender isn’t the only place where the applicant pool is out of balance.

Only 22% of the applicants are registered to no political party or minor parties, far less than their 33% statewide registration, according to statistics released by the state auditor.

But the real disparity shows up in the ethnic and racial balance. Twothirds of the applicants are white, in a state where Anglos made up only 37% of the population. By contrast, about 13% of the applicants are Latino, far below their 39% of the state’s population. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are also underrepresented in the applicant pool, although the number of black applicants is almost exactly the same as their percentage of California’s population.

Even overall applications are down. With the deadline for the first round of commission applications a little more than two weeks away, the 7,800 people who have submitted their names are far short of the 30,000 people who applied 10 years ago.

The numbers are worrisome for groups concerned that minority communities could be cut out of the mix when it comes to appointing the commission members next year.

In a letter to State Auditor Elaine Howle on Tuesday, members of the Redistricting California Collaborative called for extending the Aug. 9 application deadline until the end of September.

“California voters only get one shot every 10 years to draw the lines that shape our future,” the letter said. “We, the people, want a chance to make a real impact for our families, neighborhood and state.”

Extending the deadline would give community groups time to recruit applicants, said Rey LopezCalderon, executive director of California Common Cause, one of the groups that sent the letter.

“We need differing views on the commission, and not just ethnic views,” he said. “Women are severely underrepresented, and we need people who know the different parts of the state.”

The auditor’s office spent about $3 million for outreach 10 years ago and is just starting to run radio, print and social media ads to persuade more people to apply for the commission, said Fernández, the auditor’s spokeswoman.

“A number of applications came in late last time,” she said. “We’re already beginning to see a surge this week.”

To LopezCalderon, those efforts show the effect of an application period that was trimmed to about two months this year, from about nine months in the 2010 cycle.

“Ten years ago, we had time to plan the rollout,” he said. “We could funnel in qualified candidates already participating in the community, which you can’t do with a radio ad.”

This is the second time out for the redistricting commission. It was created by 2008’s Proposition 11, which was designed to take the politics out of what has always been a nakedly partisan job.

The measure, which passed over objections from both Republican and Democratic leaders, moved the responsibility for redistricting from the Legislature to a multipartisan citizens group with five Democrats, five Republicans and four members from outside the two major parties.

None of the commission members can have partisan political links, either as a major donor, a lobbyist, a legislative or congressional staffer, or a candidate for state office. The 14 commission members will be paid about $300 for every day they’re on the job, plus expenses.

“There are lots of requirements, but (the process) was designed to be very transparent and to filter out any potential conflicts,” Fernández said.

The initial application takes only about five or 10 minutes to fill out, she said, but the secondary one is much more detailed, asking about the skills and background applicants would bring to the commission.

Plans call for the number of applicants to be trimmed to 40 by April of next year, with the final 14 selections made by Aug. 15, 2020. The commission will have to redraw congressional and legislative district boundaries in time for the 2022 elections.