First redistricting discussion on City Council agenda
Two years after the Vacaville City Council’s district boundaries went into effect, the city will explore redrawing those boundaries, per the elections code and updated census count. A public hearing to garner input at the start of the process will take place at tonight’s City Council meeting.
According to a staff report by City Attorney Melinda Stewart and City Clerk Michelle Thronbrugh, cities with by-district elections are required to use new census data to review and redraw district boundaries to reflect any changes in population to ensure districts have a nearly equal population.
As of the most recent census update, Vacaville’s population is 95,909, Stewart and Thornbrugh wrote. This makes the six council districts that were approved in 2018 unequal in population, warranting the need to redraw boundaries.
“Determining population balance is done by measuring the spread, or deviation, between the least populated district and the greatest populated district,” the report’s authors wrote. “Deviations of 10% or less are generally considered acceptable under U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the equal population standard under the U.S. Constitution.”
Stewart and Thornbrugh highlighted the differences between two districts: District 1, represented by Roy Stockton; and District 4, represented by Nolan Sullivan. District 1 has 17,997 residents, putting it 12.59 percent above the ideal population count. District 4, meanwhile, has 14,280 residents, putting it 10.67 percent below the population standard. Combined, these two districts give the city’s total deviation at 23.26 percent, well above the accepted deviation. The new maps would need to have an overall deviation below 10 percent.
The city will also explore if redrawing the district boundaries would create a majority/minority voting district as addressed in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Stewart and Thornbrugh wrote that initial review of Vacaville’s citizens of voting age populations did not yield the possibility of a majority/minority voting district, but further analysis will be done before final maps are proposed.
Per the FAIR Maps Act, which went into effect in 2020, district boundaries must comply with the federal requirements of the Voting Rights Act, be geographically contiguous, keep socio-economic geographic areas together, display easily identifiable boundaries, be compact and not favor or discriminate against any political party.
The goal of public hearings is to provide input on “communities of interest,” or populations with common social or economic interests, to be considered when drafting maps, Stewart and Thornbrugh wrote. Examples of communities of interest include school attendance areas, natural dividing lines such as hills or roadways, areas surrounding parks and other neighborhood landmarks, and shared demographic characteristics such as income levels or languages spoken at home.
The redistricting process must be completed by April 17. Additional public hearings will take place Feb. 22, March 8 and March 22.
Vacaville first adopted its by-district system in 2018 after receiving a letter by Malibu law firm Shenkman & Hughes on behalf of their client, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, that April. The letter alleged that the council’s at-large system violated California’s Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising Latino participation in voting. The council approved the switch to a by-district system and subsequently split the city into six voting districts, giving the council two additional seats.
The system went into effect with the 2020 election, where Stockton, Michael Silva, Jason Roberts and Jeanette Wylie were elected to Districts 1, 3, 5 and 6 respectively, the latter for a two-year term. Three districts are up for re-election this year: District 2, represented by Greg Ritchie; District 4, represented by Sullivan; and District 6, represented by Wylie. Mayor Ron Rowlett, representing an atlarge seat, is also up for reelection.
In other business, the council will consider the Downtown Specific Plan addendum to the General Plan.
The council will meet at 6 tonight. The Zoom link is Cov.zoom.us/s/9895623280 8?pwd=K3RQcm82TURNN 3F0LzV5bmE5RGFuQT09, and the password for firsttime users is 639925. Participants may also join by phone by dialing 267-8310333 or 301-715-8592 or tollfree at 877-853-5257 or 888475-4499. Participants may dial *67 before the number if they wish to keep their number from being displayed on the screen.