Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Special Orders of the Day
SUBJECT:
Title
PUBLIC HEARING NO. 6 RELATED TO CHANGING FROM AN AT-LARGE TO A BY-DISTRICT SYSTEM FOR ELECTION OF CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA VOTING RIGHTS ACT: CONSIDERATION OF DEMOGRAPHER'S RECOMMENDED MAPS AND REVIEW OF POTENTIAL ELECTION SEQUENCING (CITY COUNCIL)
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I. SUMMARY
On May 22, 2018, the City received a letter from Shenkman and Hughes, PC, demanding that the City Council elections transition from the current "at-large" method to "by-district" in order to conform to the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) of 2001. Shenkman asserts that the City of Carson is in violation of the CVRA because "racially polarized voting" occurs in the city.
A by-district election process means voters within a designated Council electoral district elect one City Council member who must also reside in and be a registered voter of that district. The City of Carson currently elects City Council members through an at-large election process, which means that each voter elects all members of the City Council. The Mayor would continue to be elected at large.
A professional demographer was hired by the City to create proposed district boundaries. A public electronic "participation toolkit" was made available on the City's website during the public hearing period for the public to draw and submit maps. Residents were able to provide input on boundaries and suggest criteria for creating boundaries. A total of eight (8) submissions were received from members of the public.
Initial Preliminary Map Discussion
To move from at-large elections to by-district voting the City needed to establish the data necessary to complete the process that meets state and federal requirements for the transition to districts. The City's demographer prepared the preliminary Council district maps, which were presented in a public hearing at the August 6 City Council meeting and a Special m...
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