When the People Draw the Lines

Transcription

1 Whe the People Draw the Lies A Examiatio of the Califoria Citizes redistrictig Commissio by Raphael J. Soeshei with Geerous Support from The James Irvie Foudatio

2

3 Whe the People Draw the Lies A Examiatio of the Califoria Citizes redistrictig Commissio by Raphael J. Soeshei Research Cosultats Melia Abdullah Mark Drayse Boie Glaser Justi Levitt Research Associate Nedda Black Editor Sarah Shectma Desig e.g. commuicatios Cover Photo CA Commo Cause with Geerous Support from The James Irvie Foudatio

4

5 Table of Cotets 1 Executive Summary 9 Chapter 1: Backgroud 16 Chapter 2: Selectig the Commissioers 25 Chapter 3: Orgaizig the Commissio 34 Chapter 4: Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process 44 Chapter 5: Mappig 56 Chapter 6: The Votig Rights Act 63 Chapter 7: Timelie ad Budget 69 Chapter 8: Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future 75 Appedices

6

7 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Executive Summary O November 8, 2008, a historic presidetial electio drove voter participatio to uusually high levels. Califorias cast more tha 13.5 millio votes for presidet. Much farther dow their ballot, a smaller umber of voters (just short of 12 millio) voted o Prop 11, also kow as the Voters First Act. By a margi of less tha 1 percet, 1 voters trasformed the way the state wet about drawig districts for state offices. Istead of the state legislature ad goveror (ad at times, the courts), a idepedet citize commissio the Califoria Citizes Redistrictig Commissio would ow accomplish the task. With little otice i the tidal wave of the presidetial race, Califorias had made a major chage to their state s costitutio. 1 Prop 11 received 6,095,033 votes (50.90 percet), with 5,897,655 (49.10 percet) opposed. Although the margi of victory was less tha 1 percet, the Yes side had almost 200,000 votes more tha the No side. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 1

8 Executive Summary Two years later, by a more comfortable margi, 2 the state s voters approved Prop 20, to iclude cogressioal seats i the citize-led redrawig. O the same ballot, voters rejected Prop 27, which would have elimiated the etire citize-drive redistrictig process. 3 A arrow popular madate for citize redistrictig became a solid majority. Of all the states that have experimeted with alteratives to redistrictig by elected officials, Califoria was the most distictive, dedicated to removig as completely as possible the role of icumbet politicias i drawig their ow district lies. 4 Arizoa had the most comparable state system, but it provided a greater role tha Califoria for elected officials i selectig commissioers. 5 This report aalyzes Califoria s citize redistrictig process, from desig to implemetatio, presetig fidigs about what worked well ad what did ot. It also offers recommedatios for improvemet, i order to assist future Califoria citize commissios, i additio to ay other jurisdictio lookig to follow Califoria s lead. The League of Wome Voters of Califoria published this report, with fudig from The James Irvie Foudatio. It draws o the research of four cosultats, 6 examiatio of public records, icludig trascripts of commissio meetigs, ad iterviews with participats i the redistrictig process. The 2 Prop 20 received 61.3 percet of the vote, with 38.7 percet opposed. 3 Prop 27 received 40.5 percet of the vote, with 59.5 percet opposed. 4 Justi Levitt, A Guide to Redistrictig (New York: Brea Ceter for Justice, 2010); Bruce Cai, Redistrictig Commissios: A Better Political Buffer? Yale Law Joural 121 (2012): I November 2000, Arizoa voters passed Measure 106 to take the power to draw districts away from the legislature ad vest it i a citize commissio. The Idepedet Redistrictig Commissio is composed of five members. The first four are omiated from a pool selected by the Commissio o Appellate Court Appoitmets. From this pool of twety-five, party leaders i the legislature each select oe, so that there are two of each party. These four members the select a fifth perso to be chairperso, choosig from amog those i the pool who do ot belog to either of the two major parties. 6 Research cosultats for this report were Melia Abdullah, Actig Chair ad Associate Professor of Pa-Africa Studies, Califoria State Uiversity, Los Ageles; Mark Drayse, Associate Professor of Geography, Califoria State Uiversity, Fullerto; Boie Glaser, Berkeley Law Ceter for Research ad Admiistratio, UC Berkeley; ad Justi Levitt, Assistat Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Ageles. The research associate was Nedda Black, graduate of the Hastigs College of the Law. Aa Soeshei researched media coverage of the commissio. author coducted iterviews with each of the fourtee commissioers. Uless otherwise idicated, commets attributed to the commissioers are based o these iterviews. Outside reviewers commeted o drafts of the report. The author is solely resposible for the fidigs ad recommedatios. Fidigs Overall, the Califoria citize redistrictig process was a success. Those who desiged the ballot measures that created citize redistrictig overcame great historical odds. They were remarkably successful i wiig voter support ad i creatig a commissio that was largely idepedet of icumbet ifluece ad geerated a well-received redistrictig (chapter 1). The desigers of the redistrictig process created a detailed ad effective set of rules for commissioer selectio that maximized deliberatio, trasparecy, ad idepedece (chapters 1, 2). The James Irvie Foudatio cotributed early $3.5 millio to facilitate wider outreach to the state s diverse geographic ad demographic commuities durig the selectio process by fudig a umber of commuity orgaizatios to ecourage applicatios to the commissio ad to provide special outreach ad traiig (chapters 2, 7). The Bureau of State Audits (BSA), 7 a Califoria state agecy, coducted a broad recruitig campaig that led more tha 30,000 citizes to apply to become commissioers (chapter 2). Icumbet elected officials had little ifluece over the selectio of commissioers (chapter 2). The BSA s selectio process, operatig i public view, yielded a diverse group of commissioers who met the requiremets of service set out i Prop 11 (chapter 2). 7 The agecy has sice bee reamed the Califoria State Auditor. 2 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

9 Executive Summary The commissio sought ad obtaied a massive amout of public iput, icludig testimoy at public hearigs, s, draft maps, ad other commuicatios (chapter 4). The commissio completed its work o time, issuig fial maps by the madated date of August 15, 2011 (chapter 3). The commissio eared majority votes for its fial maps from all three required groups of commissioers: Democrats, Republicas, ad those ot aliged with either major party (chapter 8). The maps survived streuous legal challeges i state ad federal courts with o adverse judicial decisios (chapter 8). Accordig to public-opiio pollig, voters respoded positively to the work of the commissio (chapter 8). I a comparative study of trasparecy of state goverig processes i which the state received a B- overall, the citize redistrictig process received a A, with a score of 100 percet 8 (chapter 8). Four idepedet studies of the commissio s fial product, icludig two coducted for this project, foud geerally positive results i achievig the mai substative goals of Prop 11, 9 i respectig Commuities of Iterest (COIs), 10 i followig accepted techiques ad processes i mappig, 11 ad i followig a decisio-makig process that geerally met accepted stadards for addressig Votig Rights Act issues 12 (chapters 6 8). A comparative aalysis of the budget for a citize commissio i Arizoa idicates that Califoria s overall spedig o the citize redistrictig commissio was reasoable (chapter 7). I the 2012 electios, may icumbets faced sigificat challeges, i part due to redistrictig, ad some chose ot to ru for reelectio. Turover was high, ad the ew legislature had a large share of ew members (chapter 8). Despite the commissio s overall success, there were flaws i the redistrictig process. Desig The commissio s orgaizatio ad operatio received sigificatly less attetio i time, plaig, ad fudig tha did the selectio of commissioers (chapter 2). The trasitio from the BSA s role i selectig the commissioers to the Secretary of State s role i gettig the commissio up ad ruig was ot adequately plaed (chapter 3). The decisio to have the first eight commissioers select the ext six commissioers created challeges i formig a uified, cohesive body (chapter 3). Orgaizatioal Issues The commissioers had limited opportuity to desig the expectatios ad job descriptios of staff ad cosultats. With tight timelies, commissioers icreased their ow workload i admiistrative matters (chapter 3). 8 Ceter for Public Itegrity, accessed August 25, 2012, stateitegrity.org/califoria_survey_redistrictig. 9 Vladimir Koga ad Eric McGhee, Redistrictig Califoria: A Evaluatio of the Citizes Commissio s Fial Plas, Califoria Joural of Politics ad Policy 4 (2012): Nicholas O. Stephaopoulos, Commuities ad the Commissio, Staford Law ad Policy Review 23 (2012): Mark Drayse, research coducted for this report. 12 Justi Levitt, research coducted for this report. See also Justi Levitt, Democracy o the High Wire: Citize Commissio Implemetatio of the Votig Rights Act, U.C. Davis Law Review 46 (2013, forthcomig). Although Prop 11 established a $300 per diem rate of compesatio for commissioers, the commissioers had to determie importat details of the system of compesatio themselves (chapter 3). State cotractig rules hidered the commissio s ability to operate i a timely maer, especially i the commissio s early stages (chapter 3). The actual mappig process was compressed ito a short timeframe, from late May 2011 through late July 2011 (chapter 5). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 3

10 Executive Summary Commissioers struggled to weigh public iput because of its sheer volume (chapters 4 5). Although the commissio was established to last te years, o role was defied for the commissio s work beyod drawig the lies ad defedig lawsuits (chapter 3). Traiig Commissioer traiig, particularly i the applicatio of the Votig Rights Act, was delayed ad/or iadequate (chapter 3). Although Props 11 ad 20 elevated Commuities of Iterest (COIs) to a high priority i redistrictig, the commissio lacked sufficiet guidace i makig decisios about COIs (chapter 5). Recommedatios Desig I future redistrictig cycles, the greatest share of resources ad time should be devoted to the preparatio ad deliberatios of the commissio, icludig how the commissioers are traied, how they gather iformatio, ad how they deliberate (chapter 3). Jurisdictios cosiderig adoptig citize redistrictig should select all commissioers at the same time rather tha havig oe set of commissioers choose the others (chapter 3). The ext commissio should have maximum flexibility i cotractig, especially i light of its short period of operatio (chapter 3). Iformatio Access The commissio did ot have the opportuity to utilize social ad ecoomic data that would have complemeted the cesus data that were released i April 2011 (chapters 4 6). The commissio lacked timely research i the area of polarized votig, a essetial aspect of compliace with the Votig Rights Act (chapter 6). The commissio lacked sufficiet help i digestig ad utilizig public iput (chapter 4). Some commissioers ad members of the public foud it difficult to track chages beig made i the maps (chapter 5). A system of commissioer compesatio should be i place before the commissio takes office. The amout ad ature of compesatio should be chose with referece to comparable boards ad commissios withi ad outside the state of Califoria. The salary or per diem should make it possible for people of moderate meas to serve (chapter 3). The same state agecy that selects commissioers should help orgaize the commissio, providig logistical ad other support to get the citize body up ad ruig 13 (chapter 3). The ext commissio should have more time to do its work, 14 with the commissio i place at least five moths earlier i the process tha the 2011 commissio was (chapter 7). Budget The BSA issued a cotract for media outreach that, though modest i cost relative to the size of Califoria s populatio, cosumed a sigificat portio of the overall budget of the redistrictig process (chapter 2). The commissio lacked a sufficiet budget to hire a outreach firm to stimulate, collect, ad orgaize public iput outside the public hearigs (chapter 4). The ext commissio should begi the mappig process earlier (chapters 5, 7). Orgaizatio A orgaizatioal support system for the operatio of the commissio should be i place before the 13 The state legislature adopted a recommedatio from the commissio to follow this approach. 14 This report cocurs with the commissio s recommedatio for a additioal six moths for its deliberatios, a extesio that the legislature shorteed to four ad a half moths. Eve the approved extesio will be a major help. 4 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

11 Executive Summary commissio covees. This iformatio should be offered by a sigle govermetal agecy or outside orgaizatio with relevat experiece (chapter 3). The State Auditor, or a comparable office kow for its impartiality ad professioal skill, such as the Legislative Aalyst, should coduct the selectio process i the ext iteratio (chapter 2). Outreach to potetial applicats for commissio positios should draw o scheduled efforts by the U.S. Cesus Bureau to cotact Califoria adults (chapter 2). The commissioers should delegate admiistrative tasks as much as possible to staff ad cosultats (chapter 3). Commissioers should set the criteria ad job descriptios for staff ad cosultats, through a public process, ad make hirig decisios from the widest array of qualified applicats. New staff models should be explored, icludig bipartisa teams (chapter 3). The state should assig a staff perso to hadle logistical matters for the commissio (chapter 3). The commissio should cast a wide et for staff from both iside ad outside the state govermet with experiece workig with appoited or elected citize bodies (chapter 3). The lie-drawig team ad VRA cousel should be hired earlier i the process (chapters 3, 5). The existig commissio should help fill the gap i preparatio that will precede the selectio of state agecies ad outside istitutios to gather research ad set the stage for the ext redistrictig process (chapter 3). Traiig The commissio should receive extesive traiig as a uified group after all members have bee appoited (chapters 3, 5, 6). Iformatio Access Before the commissio covees, demographic ad geographic data should be collected to supplemet public hearigs for the purpose of assessig COIs (chapters 3, 5, 6). Research o historical polarized votig should be udertake before the commissio begis the deliberatio process (chapter 6). I the ext iteratio, the commissio should improve the trackig of revisios to maps i order to give greater opportuities for public iput (chapter 5). Budget The budget for the ext commissio should iclude fuds for user-friedly tools ad techology that give the public thorough access to data ad proposals ad easy opportuities to provide effective testimoy ad proposed maps (chapter 4). The commissio budget should iclude fudig for a cosultat whose mai task is to collect ad aalyze public iput to the commissio (chapter 4). Commissioer travel costs should be reduced by coductig some hearigs usig distace techology ad i some cases ot requirig all commissioers to atted 15 (chapter 4). Ackowledgemets This study was fuded i its etirety by The James Irvie Foudatio, ably represeted by Catherie Hazelto. The League of Wome Voters of Califoria served as the project coordiator, led with great dedicatio by Chris Carso ad Melissa Breach. Sarah Shectma edited the report with care ad skill. I am grateful to the cosultats who assisted me i researchig this report. A umber of aoymous reviewers read all or part of various versios of the text, ad their commets were ivaluable. I appreciate the geerosity of the may people who were willig to be iterviewed for this report, icludig all fourtee commissioers. 15 Ay such chages i public hearigs must take ito accout the tradeoffs of reduced commissioer presece ad the eed for all commissioers to have the same base of iformatio. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 5

12 O November 8, 2008, Califorias voted a major chage ito their state s costitutio whe they approved Propositio 11, the Voters First Act. This propositio took redistrictig out of the hads of the state legislature ad goveror ad put it squarely i the hads of a idepedet citize s commissio. The Voters Ask for a New Process Prop 11 wo a arrow victory i 2008, but i 2010, voters expaded the scope of the measure to iclude cogressioal districts through Prop 20, ad rejected a attempt to overtur the citize-led process through Prop % 49% 61% 39% 47% 53% Prop 11 Prop 20 Prop 27 Selectig the Commissioers Califoria s Bureau of State Audits spet two years adoptig ew regulatios ad coductig a major statewide outreach process that led to a diverse, capable, ad determied commissio of fourtee members. 30,000 Number of Applicats that Applied 5 Democrat 5 Republica 4 Neither Major Party Reachig the People Iput from the public was a high priority for the commissioers, ad they received a staggerig amout of public respose ,000 Public Hearigs Speakers Deliberatio Meetigs Writte Submissios

13 Executive Summary A Timelie for the Next Citizes Redistrictig Commissio i Califoria, * Desig of the Commissio (Start: Feb. 2019) Begi regulatio process Hold iterested-persos meetigs Preset draft regulatios Seek public commet o draft regulatios Revise ad adopt regulatios Coduct Departmet of Justice Sectio 5 preclearace of regulatios Begi outreach by commuity orgaizatios to uderrepreseted groups for participatio i the redistrictig process Select orgaizatio to prepare commissio deliberatio process Selectio of the Commissioers (Start: No later tha Aug. 15, 2019) Begi commissioer selectio process Work with cesus-cout committees to advertise opeigs; embed redistrictig message ito cesus outreach Submit Ivitatio for Public Biddig (IPB) from private resources (see sidebar i chapter 4) Begi meetig with orgaized groups to recruit applicats Idetify ad implemet strategies to reach uderrepreseted groups Coduct broad ad targeted outreach utilizig maistream ad ethic media as well as commuity orgaizatios Establish Applicat Review Pael Close applicatio period Publicize the ames i the applicat pool ad provide copies of their applicatios to the Applicat Review Pael (March 15, 2020) Coduct iitial screeig Accept secodary applicatios Applicat Review Pael presets its subpools of recommeded applicats to the Secretary of the Seate ad the Chief Clerk of the Assembly (by May 15, 2020) Coduct iterviews Hire staff for preparig commissio ad settig up office space, telephoe, website, ad accouts Select all commissioers by August 15, 2020 Seat full commissio *This proposed timelie fully icorporates the chages implemeted by SB 1096, siged ito law by Goveror Jerry Brow o September 7, 2012, A Act to Amed Sectios 8251, 8252, , 8253, ad of the Califoria Govermet Code, Relatig to Redistrictig, 2012 Statutes, Chapter 271. Preparatio of the Commissio, Part 1 (Start: Feb. 15, 2020) Plaig orgaizatio begis work Begi recruitig polarizatio scholars Iitiate study of racially polarized votig Backgroud research o staff ad cosultat eeds for commissio Adopt staff-hirig criteria Develop outreach pla ad hire outreach cosultat Iitiate objective study of COIs Coduct aalysis of cesus data, either by a agecy or cotractor (for COI purposes) Begi collectig demographic data (ACS survey results for 2018 are released i September 2019, ad results for are released i December 2019) Fid ad reserve meetig place for the commissio s deliberatios Coduct ay other orgaizatioal tasks that ca be prepared i advace of the commissio s seatig Preparatio of the Commissio, Part 2 (Start: Aug. 16, 2020) Begi traiig for full commissio immediately, icludig VRA ad guidace o diversity ad itergroup commuicatio; if ecessary, traiig for origial commissioers should be repeated for the full group Hire support staff Adopt criteria for hirig cosultats (lie-drawig cotractor, cousel, VRA cousel, polarizatio specialists) Coduct first roud of public hearigs Commissio Deliberatios (Start: Sep. 2020) Take ote of ACS data release (ACS survey results for 2019 are released i September 2020, ad results for are released i December 2020) Begi examiatio of VRA districts Draw VRA districts Release first-draft maps (o later tha May 1, 2021) Solicit public commet o first-draft maps Release secod-draft maps (o later tha Jue 15, 2021) Solicit public commet o secod-draft maps Chage draft maps based o public commet Release fial maps (August 2021) Coduct Departmet of Justice Sectio 5 preclearace Post-mappig Phase (Start: August 2021) (Ed: Ja. 2022) Procedural wid-dow, icludig wrappig up ad ay preparatios for ext commissio Litigatio defese related to the fial maps 8 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

14 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 1 Backgroud After the 2001 Califoria redistrictig, which protected icumbets of both parties, pressure grew to reform the redistrictig process. For several years, civic orgaizatios discussed possible ballot measures with state legislative leaders. By 2007, these efforts had reached a impasse, ad citize groups created a ballot measure for the 2008 ballot to establish a idepedet citizes redistrictig commissio. Previous ballot measures to amed redistrictig had failed. Although Prop 11 had its greatest voter support amog Republicas, it wo eough Democratic ad idepedet ballots to carry it to a arrow victory. I 2010, voters expaded the scope of the measure to iclude cogressioal districts ad rejected a attempt to overtur the citize-led process. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 9

15 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud Redistrictig has log bee cotroversial i Califoria. O four previous occasios, voters tured dow ballot measures iteded to create commissios that would take the power of redistrictig out of the hads of the state legislature ad goveror (ad at times, the courts): Propositio 14, November 1982, to create a commissio (defeated 54.5 percet to 45.5 percet) Propositio 39, November 1984, to create a commissio (defeated 55.2 percet to 44.8 percet) Propositio 119, Jue 1990, to create a commissio appoited by retired judges (defeated 63.8 percet to 36.2 percet) Propositio 77, November 2005, to create a commissio of retired judges for a mid-decade redistrictig (defeated 59.8 percet to 40.2 percet) Propositios 11 ad 20, the successful 2008 ad 2010 measures that trasformed Califoria s redistrictig process, grew out of the cotroversial redistrictig that bega after the completio of the 2000 Cesus. I the 1990s, disagreemet betwee the Democratic legislature ad Republica Goveror Pete Wilso led to the drawig of maps by a court-appoited team. I 2000, with a Democratic goveror ad majorities i both the state assembly ad seate, Democrats seemed poised to work their will o legislative districts. State law gives voters the authority to overtur a redistrictig pla by referedum. Before the passage of Prop 11, a redistrictig pla that received a twothirds vote i both braches of the legislature would be exempt from referedum. Sice either party was likely to commad a two-thirds majority i each brach of the legislature, both parties would have to cotribute some votes to the fial pla i order to avoid a referedum. Democrats reached out to Republicas i the legislature i order to obtai the ecessary two-thirds votes i each house. They offered Republicas protectio for their icumbets i retur for approval of the overall pla. This icumbet-protectio pla 1 was popular withi the legislature ad o Capitol Hill but left 1 The fial vote for the bipartisa pla (Assembly Bill 632, sessio, Cedillo) was 38 2 i the seate ad i the assembly. may good-govermet groups feelig that the power of elected officials had become too etreched. Some Republicas believed that their party had acquiesced to permaet miority status. Civic groups such as Califoria Commo Cause ad the League of Wome Voters of Califoria favored alteratives to redistrictig by elected officials. Some votig-rights orgaizatios, especially those i the Latio ad Asia America commuities, feared that the pla saved icumbets at the cost of ew opportuities for commuities of color. Some Democrats feared that by protectig all icumbets, the party had failed to idetify opportuities to elect more Democrats. Redistrictig has log bee cotroversial i Califoria. Civic groups bega to meet ad cofer about what could be doe to chage the system. The process accelerated after the 2003 recall of Goveror Gray Davis ad the electio of Arold Schwarzeegger. Voices of Reform, a bipartisa group led by Fred Keeley ad Da Schur, drafted a set of reform priciples, a process i which Califoria Forward played a key role. I 2005, Republica Ted Costa put forward Prop 77, which would have created a mid-decade redistrictig by a pael of retired judges. The reform commuity split, with Califoria Commo Cause i favor ad the League of Wome Voters of Califoria opposed. Goveror Schwarzeegger made Prop 77 a ceterpiece of his cotroversial special electio i The measure wet dow to defeat alog with the goveror s other proposals by a 20-poit margi, 60 percet to 40 percet. Key members of both the Republica ad Democratic cogressioal delegatios opposed Prop 77 ad raised substatial sums of moey to defeat it. Democratic state assemblymember Ala Lowethal had also bee developig bills to reform the redistrictig process. After the failure of Prop 77 he 10 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

16 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud accelerated his efforts. Califoria Commo Cause ad other citize orgaizatios worked with Lowethal i desigig his proposed legislatio. Lowethal was familiar with the model adopted by Arizoa i 2000, which at that time represeted the most advaced citize-based approach. A umber of other legislators icludig Seate Presidet pro tem Do Perata ad Assembly Speaker Fabia Nuñez also made proposals to chage the state s redistrictig process. Like Lowethal s bill, oe of those efforts gaied eough tractio amog legislators to become law. 2 At the same time, civic orgaizatios had bee talkig with legislators tryig to develop a bill. A 2006 survey coducted uder the auspices of the Rose Istitute, Califoria Commo Cause, ad the League of Wome Voters of Califoria foud that 66 percet of voters favored citize redistrictig. 3 Although may of those ivolved hoped that these coversatios would lead to a ballot measure, o bills emerged. Throughout much of 2007, civic groups focused o drafts of legislatio i cosultatio with the Speaker s office. Numerous methods of selectig commissioers were cosidered, but o legislatio was forthcomig. 4 By August 2007, reformers determied that the clock had ru out. There were differeces over the appoitmet process. Legislative leaders wated some say, eve if idirect, i the appoitmet of commissioers, but reformers believed that the selectio of commissioers had to be idepedet of the legislature. 5 I ay case, o legislatio appeared to be emergig. Uless advocates moved to the ballot immediately, the widow to create a commissio for the ext redistrictig cycle would pass. The civic orgaizatios therefore drew o the progress already made i craftig a iitiative costitutioal amedmet. The measure called for a citize commissio isulated from icumbet elected officials to draw the lies for state offices but ot for cogressioal districts. As difficult as it would be for ay citize 2 Iterview with Trudy Schafer. 3 Lake Research Parters, Survey Fidigs o Redistrictig Reform i Califoria (presetatio prepared for Rose Istitute, Califoria Commo Cause, ad the League of Wome Voters of Califoria, 2006). Of course, a actual ballot measure would have a more difficult time. 4 commuicatio with Kathay Feg. 5 Iterviews with Trudy Schaffer ad Kathay Feg. Ca. Gov. Code 8252 Citizes Redistrictig Commissio Selectio Process* (a) (1) By Jauary 1 i 2010, ad i each year edig i the umber zero thereafter, the State Auditor shall iitiate a applicatio process, ope to all registered Califoria voters i a maer that promotes a diverse ad qualified applicat pool. (2) The State Auditor shall remove from the applicat pool idividuals with coflicts of iterest icludig: (A) Withi the 10 years immediately precedig the date of applicatio, either the applicat, or a member of his or her immediate family, may have doe ay of the followig: (i) Bee appoited to, elected to, or have bee a cadidate for federal or state office. (ii) Served as a officer, employee, or paid cosultat of a political party or of the campaig committee of a cadidate for elective federal or state office. (iii) Served as a elected or appoited member of a political party cetral committee. (iv) Bee a registered federal, state, or local lobbyist. (v) Served as paid cogressioal, legislative, or Board of Equalizatio staff. (vi) Cotributed two thousad dollars ($2,000) or more to ay cogressioal, state, or local cadidate for elective public office i ay year, which shall be adjusted every 10 years by the cumulative chage i the Califoria Cosumer Price Idex, or its successor. (B) Staff ad cosultats to, persos uder a cotract with, ad ay perso with a immediate family relatioship with the Goveror, a Member of the Legislature, a member of Cogress, or a member of the State Board of Equalizatio, are ot eligible to serve as commissio members. As used i this subdivisio, a member of a perso s immediate family is oe with whom the perso has a boa fide relatioship established through blood or legal relatio, icludig parets, childre, sibligs, ad i-laws. *Eacted by Propositio 11, the Voters First Act (2008). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 11

17 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud redistrictig to wi at the ballot box, reformers did ot wat to provoke oppositio from the cogressioal delegatio. Some Democratic partisas feared that a citize process would represet uilateral disarmamet i redistrictig wars atiowide, as Republica legislators were perceived to be drawig cogressioal lies to their likig i states they domiated. Uder the Arizoa redistrictig measure, legislative leaders made appoitmets to most of the commissio positios. I cotrast, Prop 11 broke ew groud i the battle betwee civic orgaizatios ad elected officials. The measure wet ito detail about the barriers to icumbet ifluece o commissioers (see sidebar o page 9) ad limited the legislature to strikig a limited umber of applicats from the pool, with o had i the selectio. Oe observer cocluded: It is hard to imagie a more complete effort to squeeze every ouce of icumbet ifluece out of redistrictig tha the [Citizes Redistrictig Commissio]. 6 The campaig for Prop 11 was largely a project of the good-govermet commuity ad some Califoria Republicas, icludig Goveror Schwarzeegger. Major fiacial support for both Prop 11 ad the subsequet Prop 20, which icluded cogressioal redistrictig, came from a moderate Republica activist, Charles Muger. With a few exceptios (icludig former goveror Gray Davis), Democrats were opposed. But with the cogressioal districts left out i 2008, there was oly mild oppositio from cogressioal Democrats. 7 I order to weed out icumbet ifluece, Prop 11 set out detailed requiremets regardig coflicts of iterest. The ew law barred ayoe who, withi 10 years of applyig to serve o the commissio, had held federal or state office, had served i ay of a variety of capacities withi a political party or withi the state govermet, had bee a registered lobbyist, had cotributed more tha $2,000 to a cadidate for office, or had a family member holdig public office (see sidebar o page 9). Table 1. Votes o Redistrictig Measures, 2008 ad 2010 (by percet) Yes No Prop Establish Commissio Prop Add Cogressioal Districts Prop Overtur Citize Redistrictig Process Coalitio Buildig The coalitio for redistrictig reform icluded groups with differig goals ad expectatios. Some of the leadig advocates of Prop 11 promoted redistrictig reform as a way to create competitive districts, thereby allowig moderate legislators of both parties to be elected. Goveror Schwarzeegger frequetly made this argumet. However, either the desig of the measure or its implemetatio specified competitiveess as a goal. The emphasis o Commuities of Iterest (COIs), 8 established by Prop 11 ad ehaced by Prop 20, took redistrictig i the directio of homogeeous districts. Because the major political parties draw support from very differet socioecoomic blocs, such a emphasis would be ulikely to create the sort of heterogeeous districts that feature greater competitio betwee the two major parties. Accordig to a preelectio poll by the Field Orgaizatio, 41 percet of Democrats, 53 percet of Republicas, ad 41 percet of opartisas ad others supported Prop Fifty-two percet of coservatives backed Prop 11, but also 41 percet of liberals, a fairly modest differece. Three Survey USA polls i October 2008 foud a larger partisa gap. By late October, 49 percet of Republicas backed the measure, compared to 26 percet of Democrats. 10 Large umbers of voters i both parties were udecided, eve close to electio day. The same SurveyUSA poll showed that oly 25 percet of Africa Americas ad 28 percet of His- 6 Bruce Cai, Redistrictig Commissios: A Better Political Buffer?, Yale Law Joural 121 (2012): 1808, Iterview with Trudy Schaffer. 8 Commuities of Iterest refers to the goal of desigig districts i which residets have sigificat characteristics i commo. This criterio is discussed at greater legth below. 9 Field Poll, October 31, Survey USA Poll, Number (October 29 31, 2008). 12 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

18 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud paics supported Prop 11. Some votig-rights groups i commuities of color were suspicious of the citizes redistrictig commissio reform model, particularly the stated goal of maitaiig curret couty ad city lies. Some miority activists were cocered that the commissioers might place loyalty to curret couty ad city lies ahead of adherece to the Votig Rights Act (VRA), eve whe the VRA raked higher as a priority for the commissioers to cosider i drawig maps. Rosalid Gold, of the Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad Appoited Officials (NALEO), expressed this cocer: Aythig that reduces flexibility, such as a requiremet that city or (couty) lies be respected, makes it harder to comply with the Votig Rights Act. 11 Egagig those who have historically bee excluded from the process takes effort. Justi Levitt oted: I substatial part because of the Votig Rights Act, miority legislators ow occupy some seior legislative positios, ad may be suspicious of attempts to remove redistrictig power from the legislature just as they have arrived i positios of substatial ifluece. Propoets of reform should egage miority costituecies early i the process, to esure that proposals adequately protect miority rights, ad to gather support, tacit or explicit, for the eed for reform. 12 Vladimir Koga ad Thad Kousser 13 credited the measure s orgaizers with expadig the previous coalitio for redistrictig reform to iclude more Democrats ad miority voters by addressig some of these suspicios, icludig, amog other thigs, requirig that commissioers demostrate appreciatio for Califoria s diverse demographics ad geography. 11 Iterview with Rosalid Gold. 12 Justi Levitt, A Citize s Guide to Redistrictig (New York: Brea Ceter for Justice, 2010), Vladimir Koga ad Thad Kousser, Great Expectatios ad the Califoria Citizes Redistrictig Commissio, i Reapportiomet ad Redistrictig i the West, ed. Gary F. Mocrief (Laham, MD: Lexigto Books, 2011). Voters Choose Propositio 11 ad Propositio 20 Prop 11 passed despite the fact that its support came more from Republicas tha Democrats i a November 2008 electio that was marked by extraordiary levels of Democratic turout. Its passage testifies to public skepticism, across party lies, of elected officials ad the legislature. 14 Votig results were still marked by divisios alog racial ad ethic lies; Africa America ad Latio commuities registered the highest levels of oppositio, whereas white suburba eighborhoods showed the most support. 15 NOTEWorthY 6 Propositio 11 listed ad raked six criteria for the commissio to weigh i drawig lies. Two years later, voters expaded the scope of the commissio by approvig Prop 20. By a wide margi, voters defeated a measure o the same ballot to elimiate the commissio etirely (Prop 27). Although the idepedet citize-commissio model had bee approved by a arrow margi i 2008, its base of support had expaded two years later (see table 1). 14 The firm that maaged the campaig was Goddard Guster Public Affairs, formerly called Goddard Clausse Public Affairs. The firm described its strategy o its website: Goddard Clausse tapped ito voter dissatisfactio with the legislature ad created messagig about holdig legislators accoutable ad edig political gridlock ; Goddard Guster Public Affairs, accessed September 2, 2012, goddardguster.com. 15 These racial, ethic, ad geographic divisios ca be foud i upublished research o the vote o Prop 11 by cesus tract coducted by Mark Drayse for this report. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 13

19 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud Electio results show icreasig support for redistrictig from 2008 to 2010, with voters approvig a expasio of the redistrictig process by a 22-poit margi i Propositio 11 listed ad raked six criteria for the commissio to weigh i drawig lies, with promiet Propositio 11 Commissio Criteria Propositio 11 listed ad raked six criteria for the Commissio to weigh i drawig lies, with a promiet role for maitaiig Commuities of Iterest. (1) Districts shall comply with the Uited States Costitutio. Seate, Assembly, ad State Board of Equalizatio districts shall have reasoably equal populatio with other districts for the same office, except where deviatio is required to comply with the federal Votig Rights Act or allowable by law. (2) Districts shall comply with the federal Votig Rights Act (42 U.S.C. Sec ad followig). (3) Districts shall be geographically cotiguous. (4) The geographic itegrity of ay city, couty, city ad couty, eighborhood, or commuity of iterest shall be respected to the extet possible without violatig the requiremets of ay of the precedig subdivisios. Commuities of iterest shall ot iclude relatioships with political parties, icumbets, or political cadidates. (5) To the extet practicable, ad where this does ot coflict with the criteria above, districts shall be draw to ecourage geographical compactess such that earby areas of populatio are ot bypassed for more distat populatio. (6) To the extet practicable, ad where this does ot coflict with the criteria above, each Seate district shall be comprised of two whole, complete, ad adjacet Assembly districts.* *Cal. Cost. art. XXI, 2 (after voter approval of Prop 11). roles for geographical cotiuity, itegrity, ad compactess. The redistrictig process must comply with federal, state, ad local laws ad the Federal Votig Rights Act ad, whe possible, seate ad assembly districts are to be ested. Propositio 20 ehaced the importace of COIs i the redistrictig process beyod what was icluded i Prop 11, addig more detail about COIs ad icluded wordig, abset from Prop 11, that suggested keepig similar icome groups together as much as possible (see sidebar o page 13). It also greatly icreased the workload of the commissio, complicated the desig of the process by addig the drawig of cogressioal districts to the scope of the commissio s work, ad shorteed its deadlies by oe moth. Although this time costrait may have bee desiged to allow more time to defed the maps i court, it tighteed a already-challegig schedule. Without Prop 20, the origial desig of the commissio might have faced fewer obstacles to timely plaig, orgaizatio, ad deliberatio. Propositio 20, which expaded redistrictig to iclude federal cogressioal districts, emphasized commuities of iterest: groups withi a geographical area sharig commo social ad ecoomic iterests but specifically excludig icumbet or political-party iterests. A process origially desiged for term-limited state offices ow also had to deal with fifty-three highly visible cogressioal seats. Members of Cogress, icumbets without term limits, might be expected to be more resistat to citize redistrictig tha termlimited members of the legislature. Propositio 11 drafters faced a key questio i determiig which agecy would supervise the process of selectig commissioers. After polls showed which orgaizatios ad professios were most trusted for this role, the desigers selected the Bureau of State Audits (see chapter 2). Drafters of Prop 11 icorporated the ifluece of elected officials by allowig each of the Big Four (Speaker, Assembly Miority Leader, Seate Presidet pro tem, ad Seate Miority Leader) to strike two ames from each party subpool (for a total of twetyfour strikes). The origial list of qualified omiees was to be sixty i umber. The strikes would reduce the group to thirty-six. Aki to a litigat s peremp- 14 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

20 CHAPTER 1 Backgroud tory challege to potetial jurors, the strikes allowed legislative leaders to block a choice they cosidered damagig. The law required that twety of the sixty applicats be chose from either the Democratic or the Republica party. The measure specifically required oly omembership i either of the top two political parties. Thus, members of a third or fourth party, idepedets, ad those registered as declie to state could qualify. Nothig i the statute suggested that these commissioers must be cetrist or moderate. Covetioal wisdom teds to assume that those who register outside the two parties occupy the ideological middle. I fact, such voters could be to the left of the Democrats or to the right of the Republicas. Although Prop 11 devoted some attetio to orgaizatio, text o this topic was sigificatly less detailed ad thorough tha were the provisios for selectig commissioers. Propositio 11 laid out rules for the hirig, removal, ad cotractig of commissio staff ad cosultats, icludig avoidig coflicts of iterest. The Secretary of State oversees the process util the commissio is prepared to take over. The majority vote for such decisios must be spread evely amog the three political subgroups o the commissio (see sidebar). After two years of detailed ad careful selectio, the commissioers would have oly from Jauary 12, 2011, to August 15, 2011, to orgaize themselves, select leadership, hire staff ad cosultats, educate themselves o redistrictig ad the VRA, hold public hearigs, create maps, ad build public cofidece. Coclusios After a umber of stalled efforts to reform Califoria s redistrictig process, civic groups came together to create Prop 11, which took redistrictig out of the hads of legislators ad placed it i the hads of citizes. Ulike a similar redistrictig pla i Arizoa, the Califoria pla placed particular emphasis o removig the ifluece of icumbet legislators. Propositio 11 icreased the importace of COIs ad of geographical compactess i redistrictig. Though it iitially ejoyed more support amog Propositio 20 Defied Commuities of Iterest i Detail The geographic itegrity of ay city, couty, city ad couty, local eighborhood, or local commuity of iterest shall be respected i a maer that miimizes their divisio to the extet possible without violatig the requiremets of ay of the precedig subdivisios. A commuity of iterest is a cotiguous populatio which shares commo social ad ecoomic iterests that should be icluded withi a sigle district for purposes of its effective ad fair represetatio. Examples of such shared iterests are those commo to a urba area, a rural area, a idustrial area, or a agricultural area, ad those commo areas i which the people share similar livig stadards, use the same trasportatio facilities, have similar work opportuities, or have access to the same media of commuicatio relevat to the electio process. Commuities of iterest shall ot iclude relatioships with political parties, icumbets, or political cadidates.* *Cal. Cost. art. XXI, 2, subd. (d)(4) (after voter approval of Prop 20). Republicas ad white voters tha amog Democrats ad commuities of color, Prop 11 set the stage for broader support for redistrictig reform ad Prop 20, which expaded the Citizes Redistrictig Commissio to iclude cogressioal as well as state legislative districts, passed by a comfortable margi i Moreover, a propositio to overtur the Citizes Redistrictig Commissio i the same electio was defeated. Although Prop 11 was carefully thought out i may of its details, particularly i regard to the process of choosig the commissioers, it provided less detail for some other aspects of the commissio s activity, particularly i the preparatio ad activity of the commissio ad i the timeframe allowed for the process. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 15

21 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 2 Selectig the Commissioers Propositio 11 idetified the Bureau of State Audits (BSA) as a state agecy with sufficiet idepedet stadig to lead the selectio of commissioers. The BSA udertook a twoyear process that ivolved the adoptio of ew regulatios ad a major statewide outreach program. More tha 30,000 Califorias applied for commissio positios. By November 2010, the BSA had selected the first eight members, who i tur selected the remaiig six by Jauary The BSA s selectio process led to a diverse, capable, ad determied commissio of fourtee members. Although the selectio process was extremely thorough, it used up a sigificat block of time ad moey, leavig the commissio to rush its process ad to rely o private oprofit groups for commuity outreach. 16 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

22 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers A Agecy to Supervise the Selectio Process The desigers of Prop 11 had to desigate a agecy to lead the selectio process. They cosidered iformatio from opiio surveys i makig their decisio: judges polled surprisigly poorly, ad elected officials drew the worst ratigs. The most positive resposes were for idepedet auditors, professors ad other academic experts o redistrictig, members of city ad couty ethics commissios, ad the Califoria Fair Political Practices Commissio. 1 These results led to the choice of the Bureau of State Audits. This small, ofte-overlooked state agecy was equipped with a well-traied staff ad had semi-idepedet status. The agecy audits state ad local agecies ad programs at the request of the Joit Legislative Audit Committee ad also coducts statutory audits of the fiacial coditio of govermet agecies. The positio of Califoria State Auditor is set forth i the Califoria Govermet Code: I order to be free of orgaizatioal impairmets to idepedece, the bureau shall be idepedet of the executive brach ad legislative cotrol. The head of the bureau is the State Auditor, who shall be appoited by the Goveror from a list of three qualified idividuals omiated by the Joit Legislative Audit Committee by a vote of at least a majority of the committee membership from each house of the Legislature. The State Auditor shall be chose without referece to party affiliatio ad solely o the groud of fitess to perform the duties of the office. Prior to selectio, the State Auditor shall possess a combiatio of educatio ad experiece i auditig ad maagemet ecessary to perform the duties of the office. 2 The BSA tured out to be a soud choice. The commissioer-selectio process that the agecy orgaized ad ra was orderly, efficiet, trasparet, ad 1 Iterview with Kathay Feg. See also Lake Research Parters, Survey Fidigs o Redistrictig Reform i Califoria. 2 Cal. Gov. Code effective. The BSA had little experiece with a visible statewide public role, but proceedig methodically ad diligetly, the agecy desiged ad implemeted a two-year process that yielded a capable commissio. Although the law itself called for a oe-year process of choosig commissioers, the actual selectio effort took two years, icludig the developmet of regulatios ad idetificatio, recruitig, ad evaluatio of the cadidates for commissio positios. As would be expected for a govermetal agecy implemetig legislatio, the BSA had to fill i details, such as defiig the term impartial ad measurig diversity. The agecy proposed ad sought commet o detailed regulatios. I the first iteratio of proposed regulatios, the BSA proposed requirig aalytical ad mappig skills, which are ot widespread amog Califorias ad which could potetially have limited the applicat pool to those with advaced techical experiece. The leadership of the Tri-Miority Caucus 3 i the state legislature set a letter to the BSA suggestig that it redesig these requiremets so that a wider commuity could participate. 4 The limitatio of commissio positios to those with such expertise would have disadvataged a host of groups i the state well beyod commuities of color. As a result of feedback from a variety of sources, the BSA did evetually revise these requiremets so that formal mappig skills would ot be required. Istead, the agecy required a basic familiarity with maps. The law also required the BSA to gather iformatio about possible coflicts of iterest. The itrusive ature of the applicatio process (requirig disclosure of persoal ad family iformatio for coflict-ofiterest purposes 5 ) may have served as a deterret ad limited the umber of qualified applicats. 6 Most likely, such cocers were relevat to all commuities i the state. Astrid Garcia, of the Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad Appoited Officials (NALEO), oted that may potetial Latio applicats had seri- 3 A caucus of Africa Americas, Latios, ad Asia Americas. 4 Letter from Tri-Miority Caucus to the BSA, September 11, Correspodece cited i this report ca geerally be foud with its author, uless otherwise idicated. 5 The BSA decided ot to release family iformatio i the public documets other tha the ames of family members, but the decisio came too late to reach those who had stayed out of the process. 6 Iterview with Nacy Ramirez. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 17

23 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers ous cocers about privacy. 7 Deaa Kitamura, of the Asia Pacific America Legal Coucil, added: We also foud that at least withi the Asia- America Pacific-Islader commuity, people were hesitat to apply because so much of the iformatio was goig to be public, ad people were very hesitat to provide ay persoal iformatio. 8 The BSA Begis Outreach BSA staff members were surprised by their idetificatio as the lead agecy: It came out of the blue. We had o idea. It was t ecessarily cosidered the most desirable assigmet to take o i the Sacrameto world. 9 The agecy bega to pla for the task ahead as soo as the measure passed. Califoria State Auditor Elaie Howle established a workig team uder the directio of chief cousel Sharo Reilly. The group icluded five professioals, three attoreys, the publicaffairs chief, ad project maager Da Claypool (who later became executive director of the commissio). The BSA had to propose ad adopt regulatios, establish the recruitmet process, ad evaluate applicatios, leadig to a fial pool of sixty applicats ad a radom draw of the first eight commissioers. A workig group led by Califoria Forward ad icludig Califoria Commo Cause, the League of Wome Voters of Califoria, the Natioal Associatio for the Advacemet of Colored People (NAACP), the Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad Appoited Officials (NALEO), the Asia Pacific America Legal Ceter (APALC), the Mexica America Legal Defese ad Educatio Fud (MALDEF), the America Associatio of Retired Persos (AARP), the Cetral Coast Alliace Uited for a Sustaiable Ecoomy (CAUSE), ad the Greeliig Istitute moitored the agecy s work from the start, sedig umerous commets ad suggestios. Califoria Forward s cosultat orgaized coferece calls ad helped with draftig. This complex ad uusual relatioship 7 Iterview with Astrid Garcia. 8 Iterview with Deaa Kitamura. 9 Iterview with Steve Russo. betwee a state agecy ad outside groups led to questios of boudaries ad resposibilities. The BSA staff made clear that the agecy, ot outside groups, would be i charge. The BSA staff commuicated that whatever the propoets subjectively thought about how this was goig to work, the decisio makig would be with us, because we felt that there was a reaso why the voters approved us to be i charge of admiisterig it as opposed to havig iterest groups i charge. 10 Over time, the relatioship became a cooperative oe, as the outside groups provided iput ad BSA staff members were geerally resposive to suggestios. The agecy had to reach potetial applicats i the most effective way possible. Mass mailig to each registered voter would be prohibitively expesive. However, the BSA moved immediately to geerate a grassroots campaig that reached out to govermets at all levels, to departmets withi the state govermet, ad to oprofit orgaizatios, libraries, uiversities, ad civic orgaizatios. The statewide special electio o May 19, 2009, provided a uique opportuity to iform Califoria voters of the applicatio process. The BSA placed a half-page otice at the ed of the Official Voter Iformatio Guide mailed to every Califoria voter by the Secretary of State. 11 The guide wet to press o March 18, 2009, ad was mailed to voters betwee April 9 ad April 28, Commissioer selectio took a little over two years, from Jauary of 2009 to February of The process ivolved establishig regulatios for the process, coductig outreach, selectig a pael to review applicats, reviewig applicatios, iterviewig cadidates, ad selectig cadidates i two stages, allowig the first group to select the secod (see Table 2). I early 2009, the BSA sought bids for a media cotract to publicize the selectio process. The first Request for Proposal (RFP) was usuccessful; the agecy believed that the specificatios geerated proposals that were difficult to evaluate ad compare. Fially, o May 21, 2009, after a revised RFP was issued, the BSA awarded the cotract to Ogilvy Public Relatios 10 Iterview with Steve Russo. 11 The otice about Prop 11 ra o the secod-to-last page, clearly visible if a reader opeed the back cover. It was also listed i the Table of Cotets uder Iformatio Pages, alog with other items such as how to become a poll worker or vote by mail. 18 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

24 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers Table 2. Selectio Process Coducted by the Bureau of State Audits Actio or Evet Iterested Persos Hearigs, held i Sacrameto (2 meetigs), Sa Diego, Freso, Los Ageles, ad Sa Fracisco, to solicit ideas for draft regulatios. Request for Proposals (RFP) issued for Statewide Outreach Pla Revised RFP out for Statewide Outreach Pla BSA issued Notice of Itet to Award to Ogilvy Public Relatios Worldwide Notice of Proposed Rulemakig published (with first draft of regulatios) Public Hearig o Regulatios ad ed of 45-day public commet period Notice of Modificatio to Text of Proposed Regulatios published Meetig with Outreach Parters,* BSA, ad Ogilvy i Sacrameto ad by coferece call Ed of 15-day commet period for revised regulatios Fial Regulatios Adopted ad Submitted for federal Departmet of Justice (DOJ) preclearace Date(s) Ja. 26 Mar. 3, 2009 Mar. 20 Apr. 15, 2009 Apr. 30 May 15, 2009 May 21, 2009 Jul. 31, 2009 Sept. 14, 2009 Sept. 28, 2009 Oct. 1, 2009 Oct. 13, 2009 Oct. 19, 2009 Press Release aoucig fial regulatios Oct. 20, 2009 Wedrawthelies.ca.gov formally lauched Nov. 12, 2009 Selectio of Applicat Review Pael (ARP) Nov. 16, 2009 by radom drawig Olie Ifluecer Roudtable/Blogger Summit RedistrictigCA Coalitio coferece i Burbak to kick off outreach Dec. 10, 2009 Dec. 15, 2009 Iitial Applicatios accepted olie Dec. 15, 2009 Feb. 16, 2010 Preclearace of first set of regulatios Dec. 18, 2009 Supplemetal applicatios accepted olie Feb. 17 Apr. 19, 2010 First ARP meetig (ad traiig of pael members via presetatios) BSA holds webiars to assist with supplemetal applicatio Notice of Proposed Rulemakig published (with secod set of regulatios regardig first eight commissioers choosig fial six commissioers ad several other items) Public hearig o (secod set of) proposed regulatios ad ed of 45-day public commet period. Feb. 25, 2010 Mar. 18, 26, ad Apr. 7, 2010 Apr. 16, 2010 Ju. 1, 2010 *The term the BSA used to refer to outside groups that were active i providig iput to the process ad iterested i promotig the applicatio opportuity. Actio or Evet Notice of Modificatio to Text of Proposed Regulatios published Ed of 15-day commet period for revised regulatios Secod set of regulatios adopted ad filed with Office of Admiistrative Law (OAL) Secod set of regulatios submitted for federal DOJ preclearace Date(s) Aug. 9, 2010 Aug. 24, 2010 Sept. 2, 2010 Sept. 10, 2010 Preclearace of secod set of regulatios Secod ARP meetig Apr. 19, 2010 Third ARP meetig Apr. 30, 2010 Fourth ARP meetig (reduced pool of Ju. 11, ,546 applicats to 622) Fifth ARP meetig (reduced pool of 622 applicats to 314) Sixth ARP meetig (reduced pool of 314 applicats to 162 at start of meetig; further reduced to 120 by ed of meetig; desiged ad adopted iterview questios) Seveth ARP meetig durig which ARP coducted 115 iterviews Fial (Eighth) ARP meetig (reduced pool of 115 applicats to 60) Legislature strike process (reduced pool of 60 applicats to 36) Selectio of the first 8 commissioers i public drawig (out of 36 i pool) Ju. 30, 2010 Jul , 2010 Aug. 6 Sept. 13, 2010 Sept , 2010 Sept. 29 Nov. 12, 2010 Nov. 18, 2010 First 8 commissioers swor i Nov. 30, 2010 Traiig of first 8 commissioers Nov. 30 ad Dec. 1, 2010 First meetig recoveed ad slate of 6 commissioers selected First meetig recoveed agai ad approved slate of fial 6 commissioers Had over process to the Secretary of State Dec. 10, 2010 Dec. 15, 2010 Betwee Dec. 15, 2010, ad Ja. 12, 2011 First meetigs of 14 commissioers Ja , 20 21, ad 26 28, of fial 6 commissioers are swor i Ja. 12, 2011 Elaie Kuo, 1 of first 8 commissioers, resigs Ja. 14, 2011 Maria Blaco is swor i Ja. 20, commissioers vote to replace Elaie Kuo with Agelo Acheta Agelo Acheta swor i ad 14-member commissio complete Secod meetig of commissio ad first meetig of fial 14 members Ja. 28, 2011 Feb. 10, 2011 Feb , 2011 Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 19

25 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers Worldwide. The BSA did ot have the fuds i had to support this $1.3 millio cotract, however, ad requested that the state legislative-oversight committee provide support. State fudig was ot forthcomig, 12 ad the agecy evetually used its reserve fud for the outreach cotract. A well-regarded compay, Ogilvy had previously coducted public-iformatio campaigs for state agecies, icludig the Departmet of Trasportatio ( Do t Trash Califoria ), the State Treasurer ( Buy Califoria Bods ), ad the Office of Traffic Safety ( 2008 Holiday DUI Eforcemet Campaig ). Uder the BSA s directio, Ogilvy orgaized a broad publicity campaig ad egotiated twice the umber of radio spots per dollar compared to the goig rate, allowig the BSA to coduct a more cost-effective campaig. BSA officials gave iterviews to local ad statewide media, prepared flyers ad other documets, ad assumed far more visibility tha was ormal for this low-profile agecy. 13 Staff members spoke at public evets ad actively sought out sites for presetatios. I its outreach effort, the BSA had to be coscious of the possible impact of Prop Would Prop Letter from Elaie M. Howle, CPA ad State Auditor, to Hoorable Deise Moreo Duchey, Chair, Joit Legislative Budget Committee (August 11, 2009). 13 Iterview with Margarita Feradez. 14 Prop 209, also kow as the Califoria Civil Rights Iitiative, was passed i 1996, with percet of the vote, ad added Sectio 31 to Article 1 of the Califoria Costitutio. Art. 1, 31. It reads: The state shall ot discrimiate agaist, or grat preferetial treatmet to, ay idividual or group o the basis of race, sex, color, ethicity, or atioal origi i the operatio of public employmet, public educatio, or public cotractig. Table 3. James Irvie Foudatio Grats for Commissio Selectio Process Orgaizatio Grat Amout APALC $165,000 CAUSE (Cetral Coast Alliace Uited $65,000 for a Sustaiable Ecoomy) Los Ageles Urba League $50,000 NALEO Educatioal Fud $100,000 The Greeliig Istitute $100,000 Califoria Commo Cause* $250,000 *The grat to Califoria Commo Cause supported work durig both the commissioer selectio ad deliberatio phases. allow the BSA to reach out i a active way to racial ad ethic miority commuities? The BSA iterpreted Prop 11 to mea that the agecy had to seek to cotact all voters, give that the measure stated that the State Auditor shall iitiate a applicatio process, ope to all registered Califoria voters i a maer that promotes a diverse ad qualified applicat pool. This priciple guided the BSA s efforts i its outreach. The James Irvie Foudatio, a private oprofit grat-makig foudatio, supplemeted the state s public outreach ad educatio efforts. Believig that the success of the redistrictig process depeded o broad ad well-iformed public participatio, Irvie supported six oprofit orgaizatios i developig public educatio materials, coductig outreach, ad traiig a diverse cross-sectio of Califorias to apply to be members of the commissio. Through these grats, Irvie sought to assure a fair, trasparet, ad well-iformed redistrictig process ad icrease the likelihood of establishig a diverse commissio. As discussed further i chapter 4, Irvie made a secod roud of grats to support public ivolvemet i the mappig process oce the commissio was seated. The Irvie Foudatio gave a umber of grats, most betwee $50,000 ad $165,000, to several groups ivolved i the commissioer-selectio process. A larger grat awarded to Califoria Commo Cause, for $250,000, covered both the selectio ad the deliberatio phases (see Table 3). These efforts were idepedet of the work of the BSA. As part of its outreach, the BSA remaied i cotact with the Irvie-fuded groups alog with the wide rage of other orgaizatios that were followig the process, such as the Chamber of Commerce. Califoria Commo Cause subgrated a portio of its Irvie fudig to other orgaizatios to support collaborative outreach strategies. 15 I partership with these orgaizatios, Califoria Commo Cause hosted a coferece i December 2009 to kick off the applicat-recruitmet process ad two cofereces i 2010 to trai orgaizatios ad idividuals seekig to participate i the redistrictig process. The collaborative group orgaized by Califoria Commo Cause also developed public- 15 Califoria Commo Cause gave grats totalig $92,500 to APALC, the Ceter for Govermetal Studies, the Istitute for Govermetal Studies, the LWV, MALDEF, the NAACP, NALEO, ad the Rose Istitute. 20 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

26 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers educatio materials cocerig how the commissio would work, how to costruct useful testimoy, ad how to participate i deliberatios. Fially, the groups established a collaborative website, redistrictigca.org, ad orgaized social-media campaigs that supplemeted public iformatio provided by the commissio. With Ogilvy o board, the BSA arraged a meetig ope to all iterested orgaizatios. The coalitio of orgaizatios icluded a broad array of groups, such as the League of Wome Voters of Califoria, the America Associatio of Retired Persos, the Chamber of Commerce, ad a umber of votig-rights orgaizatios. The BSA was pursuig a broad rather tha a targeted media strategy, ad some of the groups urged more targeted approaches i miority commuities. Civil rights activists cocered about diversity i the process, i particular, feared that the BSA s outreach program might ot reach miority commuities. The Applicatio Process The BSA developed a robust olie applicatio process usig i-house staff ad, i the service of trasparecy, providig real-time updates o applicatio umbers with demographic breakdows. Propositio 11 had established the followig seve-step process for the selectio of commissioers: 16 The BSA must iitiate the applicatio process by Jauary 1, 2010 (or 2020, 2030, etc.). The BSA must remove applicats who have coflicts of iterest, as defied i the Code. 17 The BSA must form a Applicat Review Pael (ARP) of three qualified idepedet auditors employed by the state. The ARP must the review applicatios ad select sixty of the most qualified applicats based o relevat aalytical skills, ability to be impartial, ad appreciatio for Califoria s diverse demographics ad geography. The sixty must iclude twety 16 Voters First Act, Propositio 11 (2008) (codified at Cal. Gov. Code 8252). 17 See sidebar, supra, Chapter Oe, Cal. Gov. Code Table 4. Commissioer Applicatios by Geder ad Ethicity Compared to Populatio Totals (Percet) Califoria Registered Voters, Nov 2008 Iitial Applicats* 60 Fialists Male Female White Black Asia Latio Other *Bureau of State Audits. Democrats, twety Republicas, ad twety registered with either of those two parties. The four leaders of the legislature may strike up to two applicats each, from each of the three pools of Democrats, Republicas, ad others. The BSA must radomly draw eight ames by November 20, 2010 (2020, 2030, etc.). Those eight radomly selected commissioers must the select the remaiig six from the applicat pool, with a requiremet to esure diversity icludig geder, racial, ad ethic factors. Although the iitial applicatio phase attracted a impressive umber of applicats, the BSA did ot track how the applicats foud out about the applicatio process ad therefore missed a chace to explicitly idetify what types of outreach worked. I retrospect, the BSA could have added a questio to the ed of the applicatio askig, How did you lear about the Commissio ad this applicatio? or set a follow-up to each applicat askig for that iformatio. The first roud of applicats provided evidece of both the success ad the limitatios of the outreach approach adopted by the BSA. More tha 30,000 Califorias submitted iitial applicatios to be commissioers. Of this group, early 25,000 met the basic criteria for further cosideratio. For a process cosidered abstract ad distat to most voters, the respose was remarkable. The broad publicity process had cer- Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 21

27 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers taily worked far better tha aticipated. Nevertheless, some coservatives were cocered that civil rights orgaizatios were recruitig ad preppig applicats. As a result of their complaits, the BSA iitiated a series of webiars ad workshops ope to all to make applicatio assistace widely available. 18 The ARP deliberated over the applicatios i a highly formal ad trasparet maer. Table 4 illustrates the distributio of applicats, both i the first roud ad i the supplemetal applicatios to follow, compared to a breakdow of voter registratio. Compariso with voter registratio rather tha populatio is more useful because commissioers were draw from the pool of the state s registered voters. Iitial applicatios for the commissio did ot match the demographics of the registered votig populatio: wome, Asias, ad Latios were uderrepreseted. The fialists, however, moved closer to the proportios of the pool of registered voters. BSA attoreys ad staff assistats for each pael member supported the Applicat Review Paels. While cotiuig to coduct audits for the state, a BSA staff team hosted ARP meetigs, orgaized applicat travel to Sacrameto for iterviews, aalyzed ad posted data about applicats, ad coducted supplemetal research for the ARP, the first eight commissioers, ad the public. The ARP members received traiig i the requiremets of the Votig Rights Act i order to uderstad the requiremets that commissioers would face. The team members received this traiig i a timely maer, i cotrast to the delay i such traiig for the full commissio (see chapter 3). Bureau staff coducted ivestigatios to verify iformatio provided by applicats. 19 Results of these ivestigatios were posted o the commissio s website. The extesive ad well-orgaized staff effort testified oce agai to the thoroughess of the desig of Prop 11, to the preparatio of the BSA, ad to the fact that it was a established state agecy with a ifrastructure that was ot available to the commissio itself. Deliberatio ad Process of Elimiatio The ARP deliberated over the applicatios i a highly formal ad trasparet maer. All of the ARP meetigs were held i public, icludig iterviews with applicats, which were accessible ot oly to the public but also to legislative staffers who would be advisig the leadership o their strikes. The ARP members, however, remaied isolated as idividuals from public pressure. Their cotact iformatio was withheld from the public, ad they stayed out of touch with each other while examiig applicat files. All members were assiged assistats, who were directed ot to be i cotact with oe aother. Each ARP member rated each applicatio o a idividual basis. These ratigs were the shared i a public meetig with the other members of the pael. All decisios had to be uaimous. Of the 4,546 applicats who submitted full applicatios, icludig essays, refereces, ad disclosure of fiacial relatioships, the pael members voted idepedetly ad uaimously, prior to group deliberatio, to elimiate 3,924, leavig 622 by Jue 11, As the pool shrak, every applicat received icreased scrutiy. BSA staff thoroughly ivestigated applicatios to idetify ay potetial coflicts or other issues that might make applicats ieligible. The results of these iquiries were made available for public commet i writig or at ARP meetigs. Combied 18 Iterviews with Deborah Howard ad Toy Qui. Qui complaied that some cadidates were elimiated because of the search for diversity ad blamed The James Irvie Foudatio for this priority. 19 See memoradum from Steve Beito Russo, Chief of Ivestigatios for BSA, to the APR, September 21, 2010, describig the ivestigatio process. 20 Public meetig of the Board of State Auditors Applicat Review Pael, Jue 30, 2010, trascript. 22 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

28 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers with webcast iterviews, this approach created a ope iterview ad selectio process. The public had umerous opportuities to weigh i, from the developmet of regulatios to commets directed to the ARP about idividual applicats. The BSA posted public commets o the Iteret for public access. The fial pool was well qualified, reasoably diverse, ad seemed to have avoided the egregious coflicts of iterest that had bee feared. There were o obvious party coalitios that would either domiate or block deliberatio. As oe observer commeted regardig the detailed strictures agaist coflicts of iterest, The rules were isae, but they worked. 21 Although some feared that partisaship represeted the greatest potetial obstacle to success i choosig the commissioers, the desig of the Califoria process provided some checks ad balaces. Ulike the model i Arizoa i 2011, where questios about the possible partisa coectios of the fifth eutral member had major cosequeces because of that perso s tie-breaker role, the Califoria pla had some advatages. I particular, either party would have to cotrol several commissioers i order to become a partisa blockig force. 22 Meetig the Prop 11 requiremet of diversity amog commissioers, however, posed a challege. Oce the eight commissioers were chose by radom draw from amog the qualified pool, Prop 11 coected their choices for the ext six more specifically to diversity: The six appoitees shall be chose to esure the commissio reflects this state s diversity, icludig, but ot limited to, racial, ethic, geographic, ad geder diversity. However, it is ot iteded that formulas or specific ratios be applied for this purpose. Applicats shall also be chose based o relevat aalytical skills ad ability to be impartial. 23 The ARP cosidered diversity amog other factors i its recommedatios o applicatios, i 21 Iterview with Paul Mitchell. 22 Cai, Redistrictig Commissios. 23 Cal. Gov. Code 8252 (g). Table 5. The Fial 14 Commissioers Name Party Selected/Radom Draw Occupatio City Vicet Barabba Republica Radom Draw Busiess ad Marketig Capitola Cythia Dai Democrat Radom Draw CEO ad Professor Sa Fracisco Staley Forbes Affiliated with either Radom Draw Bookstore Co-Ower Esparto major party Coie Galambos Affiliated with either Radom Draw Urba Plaig ad Policy Oaklad Malloy major party Developmet Elaie Kuo Democrat Radom Draw (Resiged) Researcher Moutai View Jeae Raya Democrat Radom Draw Lawyer; Risk Maagemet Sa Gabriel Jodie Filkis Webber Republica Radom Draw Self-Employed Attorey Norco Peter Yao Republica Radom Draw Former Mayor; Egieer Claremot Gabio Aguirre Democrat Selected Retired Teacher ad School Sata Paula Pricipal Maria Blaco Democrat Selected Noprofit Executive Los Ageles Michelle R. DiGuilio Affiliated with either Selected Commuity Plaig; Homemaker Stockto major party Lilbert Gil R. Otai Republica Selected Architect ad Lecturer Sa Diego M. Adre Parveu Affiliated with either Selected Geographer ad Urba Plaer Culver City major party Michael Ward Republica Selected Chiropractor ad Polygrapher Aaheim Agelo Acheta Democrat Other (Selected by the commissio to replace Elaie Kuo) Law Professor Sa Fracisco Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 23

29 CHAPTER 2 Selectig the Commissioers accordace with Prop Ward Coerly later filed a lawsuit chargig that Prop 11 itself violated Article 1, 31, of the Califoria Costitutio because of its emphasis o racial, ethic, ad geder diversity i the selectio of the six fial commissioers. 25 I a amicus brief, Califoria Commo Cause, the League of Wome Voters of Califoria, ad the Califoria NAACP respoded that the courts had ot equated the cosideratio of diversity with preferetial treatmet ad that the goal of makig the commissio a represetative body was ot icosistet with that of prohibitig racial discrimiatio or preferece. 26 O December 12, 2012, the Superior Court of Califoria, i Sacrameto, ruled i favor of the State of Califoria ad agaist Ward Coerly. Judge Michael Key determied that the commissioers were public officers, ot public employees, ad that therefore Prop 209 did ot apply to the commissio. 27 The Fourtee After the legislative leaders made their strikes, the BSA coducted a carefully desiged radom drawig that yielded the first eight commissioers. That group would be required to select the remaiig six commissioers from the existig pool. The fial commissio icluded members from a rage of geographical regios ad variety of backgrouds. Coclusios The BSA effectively carried out a difficult project i selectig the first eight commissioers ad creatig the 24 Public meetig of the Bureau of State Audits Applicat Review Pael, Jue 30, 2010, trascript. 25 Jim Saders, State Discrimiates i Choosig Redistrictig Pael, Suit Argues, CapitolAlert, Sacrameto Bee, Mar. 23, 2012; Coerly v. Califoria, No (Cal. Super. Ct., Sacrameto Couty 2011). 26 Brief for Califoria Commo Cause, League of Wome Voters of Califoria, ad Califoria NAACP i Support of Demurrer, as Amicus Curiae, Coerly v. Califoria, No (Cal. Super. Ct., Sacrameto Couty 2011). 27 Superior Court of Califoria, No CU-WM- GDS. November 21, pool from which the remaiig six were draw. I fact, the BSA ad its Applicat Review Pael operated i a maer more typical of traditioal citize commissios tha the redistrictig commissio itself. The BSA had sufficiet time to develop regulatios, to trai its ARP members, to hear from the public, ad to reach soud coclusios i a reasoable amout of time. Although the BSA lacked the full budget its work required, ad its professioal staff worked log hours, the agecy did have budget reserves sufficiet to pay for its large media outreach cotract. With budget ad time likely to be major cocers i the ext iteratio, the time ad resources for commissioer selectio will likely be reduced. Regulatios adopted at great legth by the BSA i the first iteratio will be i place ad ope to revisio, savig cosiderable time ad expese. I relative terms, a $1.3 millio cotract to reach a state of 17.3 millio registered voters is hardly expesive. But i the cotext of a overall redistrictig budget of roughly $10 millio ad with the commissio itself short of resources, the eed for a comparable media cotract for the ext recruitmet does ot seem compellig. I the ext iteratio, other meas are likely to be available to alert voters to the opportuity to apply to be o the commissio. Outreach to potetial applicats for commissio positios should, for istace, draw o scheduled efforts by the U.S. Cesus Bureau to cotact Califoria adults. The James Irvie Foudatio provided major fiacial support to fill a gap i the redistrictig process. It is possible that the Irvie Foudatio ad other private fuders will oce agai provide support for activities that may ot receive govermetal fudig. However, there is o guaratee that this will occur, i whole or i part. As a result, ew ways to parter with other govermetal ad commuity agecies to promote the opportuity to apply will be ecessary. The selectio of commissioers stood as the corerstoe of the commissio process. The very success of that effort testifies to the value of advace plaig, sufficiet time, ad staff. Fidig fourtee appropriate commissioers took the largest share of thought, time, ad attetio, whereas the work of the commissio itself was compressed, resource limited, ad difficult to orgaize (see chapter 3). 24 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

30 Califoria Citizes Redistrictig Commissio Chapter 3 Orgaizig the Commissio By the time the commissio was seated i Jauary 2011, two years had passed. The ew state law directed the Secretary of State to take over from the BSA i November 2010 i order to get the commissio up ad ruig but provided little directio o how to carry out that resposibility. The commissioers had little guidace for their orgaizatioal plaig, ad they improvised. Key tasks, such as traiig i the VRA ad hirig VRA cousel, delayed the process. A ambitious schedule of public hearigs drew sigificat public iterest but cosumed large blocks of commissioer ad staff time. The major deliberative work of the commissio was telescoped ito a period of less tha two moths. The ext commissio eeds more preplaig ad orgaizatioal support i carryig out its obligatios. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 25

31 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio The commissio had oe primary if imposig duty: to draw the lies for 177 state ad federal electio districts. It had a extremely short period of time i which to carry out that task, a timelie made eve tighter ad more challegig by the passage of Prop 20 shortly before the seatig of the commissio. The commissioers could ot easily rely o the previous district lies as their mai foudatio ad template because of the required focus o Commuities of Iterest (COIs) istead of the traditioal icumbet protectio. It would have take a pheomeal orgaizatioal effort, plaed well i advace ad steadily executed, to make this task go smoothly. Such a udertakig, give adequate resources ad plaig, would have resembled the effort of the BSA to select commissioers, ad eve the, give the size of the state, the budget limitatios, ad the umber of electoral districts, it would have bee a mad rush to the fiish lie. The desigers worried first about overcomig the seemigly impossible odds of wiig at the ballot box ad the about keepig excessive icumbet ifluece out of the commissioer-selectio process, promotig diversity, ad ecouragig trasparecy. Voters shared these cocers as well ad so did ot exert public pressure for greater orgaizatioal plaig. It was difficult to foresee i ay case how such a commissio would be orgaized ad ru. The Role of the Secretary of State Ay citize commissio, especially oe with some members ew to public service, eeds help i developig expectatios about staff ad cosultats. A citize commissio ca use its support etwork to make its work more efficiet ad to avoid becomig bogged dow i admiistrative matters. Uder Prop 11, the Secretary of State was to provide support fuctios to the commissio util its staff ad office [were] fully fuctioal. However, the civic coalitio that created Prop 11 provided limited directio o the ature of that support or how it would be implemeted. The BSA did ot fully elaborate o the Secretary of State s role i its rulemakig process. After ackowledgig that the fuctio of the rulemakig process was to provide guidace ad NOTEWorthY 177 The commissio had oe primary if imposig duty: to draw the lies for 177 state ad federal electio districts. clarity, 1 the BSA provided that [a]fter the 14 members of the commissio have bee selected, the [BSA] will cooperate with the commissio ad with the Secretary of State i order to facilitate the commissio[ s] becomig fully fuctioal. 2 The Secretary of State s office produced a oe-time report i September 2010, at the behest of the Califoria state legislature, outliig the agecy s pla for fulfillig the Prop 11 madate. 3 The report outlied a actio pla for how the BSA ad the Secretary of State would coordiate their efforts: The Secretary of State views November 2010, through February 2011, as the critical trasitio period for the Commissio. The Secretary of State plas to work closely with BSA to esure trasparecy as well as cosistecy of iformatio. To esure this smooth trasitio, the Secretary of State ad BSA have iitiated mothly meetigs to discuss activatio issues. The key players will be the Secretary of State admiistrative maagers ad BSA s legal team. 4 1 Califoria Regulatory Law Bulleti, CRLB Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, (I their Notice of Proposed Regulatios, the BSA oted: The [Voters First] Act provides little guidace regardig how the fial stage of the applicatio process shall operate ad how selected applicats will make the trasitio to a fully fuctioal commissio ; CRLB 153 ). 3 Admiistrative Support Actio Pla for the Citizes Redistrictig Commissio, State of Califoria, September 15, 2010, accessed September 14, 2012, 4 Ibid. 26 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

32 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio The Maagemet Services Divisio for the Secretary of State assisted the commissio i its iitial orgaizatio. The Secretary of State s team created job descriptios for key commissio staff ad placed them o the state website. The agecy helped to orgaize the iitial commissio meetigs ad provided guidace to the commissioers i their early orgaizatioal decisios. Although the Secretary of State s most visible period of ivolvemet was betwee December 2010 ad Jauary 2011, the office had bee at work for several moths developig job descriptios ad addressig logistical issues for the commissio. Staff from the Secretary of State s office worked with the state cotroller to esure that the commissio staff would be paid ad that the commissio would have a fuctioig bak accout. Replacig professioal politicias i the redistrictig process was the core of the reform. Replacig govermet support staff ad providig a istitutioal base is a differet matter. Citize commissioers eed the tools, the time, ad the structure to make up for those gaps. Neither the BSA or the Secretary of State had the requisite experiece to provide such assistace, ad i ay case, both agecies were justifiably reluctat to itrude o the prerogatives of the commissio. All parties ivolved were aware of the importace of preservig the commissio s idepedece. Although this care was importat to the commissio s success, it also left the commissio at times without essetial guidace. As a result, the commissioers foud ways to orgaize their ow work. I hidsight, the pla to had off authority from the BSA, which had embraced its role ad spet more tha a year immersig itself i the process of selectig redistrictig commissioers, to a agecy that had bee less ivolved i the redistrictig project was ulikely to lead to optimal results. The BSA was more familiar with the redistrictig process ad might have bee i a better positio to help the ew commissio get o its feet. Ideally, the state agecy that selects commissioers should help orgaize the commissio, providig logistical ad other support to get the citize body up ad ruig. 5 Ay such agecy will have to assist the 5 The state legislature adopted a recommedatio from the commissio to follow this approach. commissio, as did the Secretary of State, to deal with state admiistrative procedures that ca be extesive ad cumbersome. The Positio of Executive Director For ay commissio, the process of choosig a executive director is a key admiistrative decisio. The executive director liks staff ad the commissio ad provides essetial guidace to the commissioers. Uder the supervisio of the Departmet of Persoel Admiistratio, the Secretary of State s office took the lead i recruitig cadidates for the positio of executive director, 6 draftig a job descriptio before the commissioers were appoited ad circulatig it o the etwork ormally used to advertise state jobs ad o the commissio website. The job bulleti idicated that although applicats had to possess most of the followig abilities, they were ot required to have them all: Kowledge of the orgaizatio ad fuctios of Califoria State Govermet icludig the orgaizatio ad practices of the Legislature ad the Executive Brach; priciples, practices, ad treds of public admiistratio, orgaizatio, ad maagemet; techiques of orgaizig ad motivatig groups; program developmet ad evaluatio; methods of admiistrative problem solvig; priciples ad practices of policy formulatio ad developmet; fudametals of accoutig, budgetig, ad fiscal reportig; persoel maagemet techiques; the State s Equal Employmet Opportuity Program. 7 These requiremets made the job less accessible to those outside Sacrameto. 8 The job search did ot 6 Iterview with Dora Mejia. 7 Available at opportuities/executive_director.pdf, accessed September 13, Doug Johso of the Rose Istitute suggested to the commissioers i public testimoy that the job descriptio should exted beyod Sacrameto: It would be a symbolic step to get away from the Sacrameto etities that you re officially idepedet of, ad it may also wide the pool of people who would be iterested i beig executive director, get you people who are t already i Sacrameto, which by defiitio they are focused o the govermet as it is, ad ot so idepedet. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 27

33 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio At the begiig, the commissioers seemed to see themselves less as jurors tha as civic leaders reachig out to the commuity. prioritize experiece with guidig citize commissios or elected boards. Retired city maagers, chief admiistrative officers, heads of govermet departmets, or executive directors of boards ad commissios at the state, couty, ad local levels would have costituted a rich pool of cadidates who would have bee familiar with how to guide a ew commissio with a short timelie. After they took office, the commissio arrowed the pool of applicats by adoptig the tightest possible coflict-of-iterest rule o staff ad cosultats, eve though the law oly required them to apply these rules to the extet applicable. 9 O Jauary 19, 2011, the commissio chose as its executive director Da Claypool, the project maager of the BSA team that had orgaized the selectio process. Claypool brought to the commissio a wide rage of experiece with state govermet ad obvious familiarity with the commissioers through the selectio process. Claypool oted, though, that because of his role as a state employee, he had to overcome the commissioers suspicio of the govermet. 10 He hired additioal staff i the areas of commuicatios ad logistics. Claypool avigated the major challege of fidig office space, first i the goveror s office ad later i a differet buildig. Uderperformig computers ad priters idicated a serious equipmet problem; the staff had to scrouge for trash cas. Commissioer Jeae Raya felt that the commissioers were omads without a real home ad recalled that there were log delays i providig ad other commuicatios. 11 The ext commissio would beefit from the assistace of a official from a state agecy who would be assiged to the commissio to facilitate work with the state govermet ad to help orgaize the commissio util a executive director is hired. With the assistace of such a official, the commissio would face less pressure i choosig a executive director, who could guide ad support the commissio s work i light of experiece with other commissios or elected bodies ad could be selected from the broadest rage of cadidates. The Commissio Covees I their first formal meetig as a full commissio o Jauary 12, 2011, the commissioers idicated that they would ot wait for staff to be hired before makig importat process decisios. They felt that time was pressig o them. As oe commissioer said, I am just thikig logistically, we have so much work to get doe right ow. [T]he [c]lock is tickig 12 Commissioer Gil Otai wodered, How ca we get it doe? The itese pressure of their timelie led commissioers ito self-maagemet. They were, at least i their ow mids, o their ow. Commissioer Michael Ward remembered, I was expectig a formal hadoff or redistrictig traiig. How does a commissio work? There was o real directio. Perhaps because they did ot have a say i settig the criteria for key staff, the commissioers were determied to cotrol the rest of the process. Though this sese of owership by the commissio helped the project succeed, it was risky to operate without a orgaizatioal safety et below. The commissio quickly adopted a proposal to create subcommittees, although some commissioers expressed doubts about the wisdom of that course. Commissio meetig, Jauary 12, 2011, trascript. All trascripts are available at 9 Iterview with Dora Mejia; Cal. Gov. Code 8253 (a)(5). 10 Iterview with Da Claypool. 11 Uless otherwise idicated, all commets by commissioers are from the author s iterviews with them. 12 Commissioer Cythia Dai, commissio meetig, Jauary 13, 2011, trascript. 28 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

34 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio Commissioer Ward commeted, It seems to me that we re just burdeig ourselves logistically to form a buch of subcommittees if we re goig to follow the same process as we re doig as a full committee. 13 Commissioer Maria Blaco asked, What would the fiace subcommittee do that ca t be doe o the full commissio? 14 But the majority moved ahead. Whereas a committee o outreach added cosiderable value i light of the shortage of fuds for outreach, a committee o admiistratio seemed likely to overlap with activities that staff could more appropriately hadle. The committee o outreach, though appealig ad popular amog commissio members, was a potetial diversio from the mai task at had: deliberatio. Oe observer oted that at the begiig, the commissioers seemed to see themselves less as jurors tha as civic leaders reachig out to the commuity. 15 Commissioer Raya remembered it as a heady time, still ew ad excitig. We had lots of ethusiasm. Ad at the begiig, we were impatiet. At the same Jauary 12 meetig, the commissioers voted to have rotatig chairs. A proposal that failed to be adopted would have created a three-part leadership team, 16 oe member from each major party ad oe ualiged. Those iterviewed for this study praised the rotatig chairs idea as a meas of avoidig political attacks o the commissio ad of fosterig uity amog the commissioers. That model, however, also made it likely that staff would ot have a cosistet relatioship with the commissio s leadership. Commissioer Compesatio Propositio 11 provided a $300 per diem paymet to commissioers for time egaged i commissio busiess. 17 For succeedig commissios, the rate of compesatio is to be adjusted by the cumulative chage i the Califoria Cosumer Price Idex. The regulatios adopted by the BSA provided further detail, 13 Commissio meetig, Jauary 20, 2011, trascript. 14 Ibid. 15 Iterview with Matt Rexroad. 16 Motio made by Commissioer Kuo, commissio meetig, Jauary 12, 2011, trascript. 17 Cal. Gov. Code, NOTEWorthY $300 Propositio 11 provided a $300 per diem paymet to commissioers for their work. specifyig that this per diem rate applied to the first eight commissioers as they uderwet traiig ad the as they selected the ext six commissioers. 18 As the first eight commissioers prepared to covee for the first time, the BSA s legal staff preseted a memoradum explaiig these provisios. 19 Whe the full commissio coveed o Jauary 13, 2011, the members discussed the details of their compesatio pla. Their focus was o two issues: how may hours would costitute a full workday ad what activities would be desigated as commissio busiess. The commissioers largely drew o their ow experieces, especially those who had worked i the private sector, to defie billable hours ad workdays. Some commissioers favored defiig a workday as more tha four hours. Ultimately, the commissio decided o six hours. If a commissioer worked more tha six hours i a sigle day, the compesatio would remai $300. Ay hours above that i oe day would still qualify for $300. The commissioers established a system by which they would record ad report their hours o commissio busiess. Some hours would be for commissio meetigs, icludig public hearigs. Others would be for homework doe away from public meetigs, icludig reviewig documets. (See chapter 7 for the overall amout spet o commissioer compesatio.) The fourtee commissioers received a wide rage of 18 Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, div. 10, ch. 1, sub. 3, Guidace for the first eight members of the Citizes Redistrictig Commissio, siged by Sharo Reilly (Chief Cousel) ad Doa Neville (Associate Chief Cousel), dowloads/legal_memo.pdf. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 29

35 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio compesatio, with the highest amout early twice the lowest. 20 Commissioers expected, correctly, that they would have a immese workload. They were also cocered that commissioers of moderate meas would be uable to serve without adequate compesatio, especially if they were limited i their ability to perform their regular jobs. Commissioers expected, correctly, that they would have a immese workload. The redistrictig process would be extremely arduous eve uder the best of circumstaces. With the rushed caledar ad the pressures of beig the first citizes redistrictig commissio with high public expectatios of accessibility, their time commitmet would likely make service impossible without sigificat compesatio. The commissioers also kew that differet people would have differet eeds ad costraits (e.g., those with youg childre at home would have more costraits o their time). The record does ot idicate that commissioers received advice about how comparable public bodies deal with compesatio. A wide rage of examples ca be foud, from full-time bodies with salaries based o the assumptio that the commissioer will hold o other employmet, to moderate salaries that assume part-time but extesive work i a large metropolita area, to commissioers who serve without pay, with reimbursemet for expeses oly, or with small per diems for attedace at formal meetigs. 21 A fixed level 20 Commissioer Michael Ward received the largest amout ($68,400), ad Commissioer Maria Blaco received the lowest ($35,100). Jim Saders, Califoria Redistrictig Commissioers Paid Varied Amouts for Work, Sacrameto Bee, Jue 13, Accessed olie March 12, 2013, redistrictig-commissioers-paid.html. 21 Examiatio of couty grad juries, state commissios, city coucils, state legislatures, local boards, ad commissios did ot reveal ay that of compesatio or per diem based o formal, public meetigs represet stadard models, ad the $300 per diem provided by Prop 11 fit withi that latter model. The amout ad ature of compesatio should be chose with referece to comparable boards ad commissios withi ad outside the state of Califoria. Cosistet with the geeral directio of this commissio, the ext commissio should have a level of compesatio that would allow people of moderate meas the opportuity to serve o a part-time basis. From the stadpoit of trasparecy ad accoutability, the pla for compesatio should be set i advace ad ot by the commissioers themselves. Furthermore, if there is ot a salary paid to commissioers, the per diem should cover work coducted i public or i closed sessios. I order to remai cosistet with the law that established the commissio, a compesatio model should apply the $300 per diem to formal meetigs ad activities oly. These meetigs could iclude public hearigs, deliberatio meetigs of the full commissio, ad committee meetigs (icludig closed meetigs). The records should be kept by state officials who are assiged to assist the commissio. Although the overall level of compesatio for the itese deliberatio phase might be less tha the first commissio received, this pla would allow commissioers to cotiue to receive compesatio after the mai deliberatio phase is over ad throughout their te-year term. Preparig to Work As a Commissio The commissioers had to sped some time becomig a uified body. The method of selectio had effectively created two commissios, the iitial eight members chose by radom draw ad the remaiig six chose by the first eight. The first group of commissioers met throughout December 2010 to select the ext six. Commissioers Jodie Filkis Webber ad Peter Yao oted that although the first eight had developed some real camaraderie, it took some time to icorporate the other commissioers. Jurisdictios cosiderig adoptig versios of the citize redistrictig should select all commissioers at followed the pla that was desiged for this commissio. 30 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

36 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio the same time rather tha havig oe set of commissioers choose the others, i order to produce a more uified ad cohesive group at the outset. The ext commissio should have maximum flexibility i cotractig, especially i light of its short period of operatio. The commissio held log, thoughtful discussios o admiistrative matters that seemed appropriate for staff iput. Commissioer Cythia Dai foud it frustratig at times. There was lots of ramblig, the blid leadig the blid. Meawhile, the staff had to make sure that state regulatios allowed the commissio to get what it eeded i order to operate. The staff operated uder rigid state cotractig rules that did ot iclude delegated authority to make purchases. Commissioer Dai described the state s cotractig procedures as opaque. Commissioer Gabio Aguirre recalled that gettig simple thigs doe required agoizig quasidiplomatic processes. The staff had to work diligetly to get a quick respose from state officials i charge of cotractig. The slow process frustrated staff ad commissioers i light of the extremely short time spa for the commissio s work. The ext commissio should therefore have maximum flexibility i cotractig, especially i light of its short period of operatio. Critical decisios that should have bee made quickly such as hirig Votig Rights Act (VRA) cousel or obtaiig VRA traiig for the full commissio were delayed ad the delayed agai. The trascripts reveal a skilled group of commissioers tryig to ru their ow commissio with rotatig chairs, paifully aware of deadlies slippig ad the facig cotiuig uresolved problems. Commissioers seemed aware that some critical items were driftig but did ot seem able to fid a way to complete them. Traiig i the VRA, a core aspect of the commissio s work, was delayed. The first eight commissioers received iitial traiig i December 2010, but the ext six did ot. The six were ecouraged to watch the video of the traiig the first eight received. Commissioer Agelo Acheta, who joied the commissio i early February, watched the traiig olie ad foud that it was t quite where it eeded to be, especially o the Votig Rights Act. The full commissio fially received traiig, but ot util late March. Cotroversy over the hirig of the lie-drawig cosultig firm Q2 22 added pressure to the commissio. Two compaies, Q2 ad the Rose Istitute, bid for the cotract. Like Claypool, Q2 was familiar to the commissioers; its maagig parter, Kari Mac Doald, had briefed the commissio i some of its early meetigs ad directed the Statewide Database. 23 A majority of the commissioers believed that the Rose Istitute did ot meet the commissio s coflict-of-iterest stadards ad foud several key items missig or iadequate i the orgaizatio s applicatio. 24 Although Q2 had extesive experiece drawig district lies for cities ad other local bodies, the firm did ot have statewide redistrictig experiece, ad some commissioers were cocered that Q2 could ot hadle the massive Califoria task aloe. 22 At the time the commissio was formed, Q2 was a partership betwee Kari Mac Doald ad Bruce Cai. Durig the redistrictig process of the early 1980s, Cai had bee a special cosultat to the Assembly Electios ad Reapportiomet Committee i charge of techical services. After the 1991 redistrictig, the Califoria legislature decided to put the Statewide Database at UC Berkeley uder Cai s supervisio. Although Cai had ot draw either state legislative or cogressioal lies sice 1982, he severed his partership with Q2 whe the firm was uder cosideratio for a cotract with the commissio, to reiforce his pledge of oivolvemet i the 2011 redistrictig. 23 The Statewide Database emerged from a database that was origially created for Califoria s State Assembly, to be used i the redistrictig of I 1993, the Califoria Legislature voted to house the database permaetly i a opartisa eviromet. The Istitute of Govermetal Studies (IGS) at U.C. Berkeley was selected. I 2009, the Statewide Database moved to its ew home i a off-campus buildig at Berkeley Law. The iformatio i the Statewide Database is a public resource ad available free of charge to ayoe iterested i the political ad demographic make-up of the State of Califoria, accessed March 30, A examiatio of the scorig sheet for the Rose Istitute s proposal revealed a sigificat umber of items that reviewers cosidered uresposive, icludig the lack of sigatures from key members of the team (scorig sheet available at march_documets/rose_bid_evaluatio_fial.pdf, accessed August 27, 2012). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 31

37 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio A better pla for the ext iteratio would be to ecourage bipartisa teams to apply. Itimatios of partisa favoritism ra rampat. 25 Republicas had lobbied the commissio i favor of the Rose Istitute. They felt aggrieved that the commissio s executive director was a Democrat (although oly miimally active), that Q2 s pricipal was a idepedet with ties to a former Democratic cosultat, ad that the commissio had ot hired a Republica firm as VRA cousel. The commissio did ot have the support of a majority of the Republica members to select the VRA cousel favored by the Democratic ad oaliged members, a issue that was resolved whe the Republica-supported firm withdrew. Claypool s role i the BSA selectio process ad his familiarity with state govermet had made him a atural choice for executive director. Similarly, ot may bidders could meet the eeds of the massive mapdrawig job, ad Q2 had extesive experiece. The commissio did achieve partisa balace by selectig VRA cousel with oe Democratic ad oe Republica pricipal. 26 Commissioer Blaco believed that the time costraits made it harder to look for alterate pools of expert talet. Commissioer Ward favored a i lie review of the work of the map-drawig team, a process that would brig i aother lie-drawig cosultat to review ad examie Q2 s work. Ward s proposal reflected a fear that politically biased lie drawig would skew the process. Although this cocer was uderstadable, a 25 A umber of Republicas strogly favored Rose, ad some argued that the commissio applied the coflict-of-iterest stadards i a maer that disadvataged Rose. Three Republica members of the commissio opposed removig Rose from cosideratio. 26 After the withdrawal of the competig firm, the commissio voted uaimously to retai iteratioal law firm Gibso, Du & Crutcher, with Daiel M. Kolkey, a Republica ad pricipal drafter of Prop 20, ad George Brow, a Democrat, as pricipal attoreys. doubled-up lie-drawig process would have added to the immese time pressure o all participats. A better pla for the ext iteratio would be to ecourage bipartisa teams to apply, balaced by their competig political ivolvemets. If the citize redistrictig model cotiues to work ad creates a log-term market, firms may redesig their ow orgaizatios i order to qualify. 27 I ay case, a lie-drawig team caot easily chage the outcome of a redistrictig process. Commissioer Blaco thought i retrospect that the commissio worried too much about what was essetially a techical task. I ay case, the decisios o drawig the lies would be made by the appoited commissioers, ot by staff or cosultats. These coflicts over hirig masked some uderlyig partisa ad ideological differeces i redistrictig that do ot simply disappear with the removal of icumbet elected officials from cotrol of the process. The larger disagreemets revolve aroud how to apply the VRA ad the model of COIs. These are ot techical issues but political ad philosophical oes, ad they did emerge i the process of mappig i 2011 (see chapters 5 6). Orgaizatioal decisios had real implicatios for the decisio makig of the commissio. The commissio s first maps were released o Jue 10. As idicated later i this report, some public reactio to the first set of maps was egative, i part because of deficiecies i resposiveess to the VRA. With more time ad better orgaizatio, the commissioers would have more experiece with the VRA ad how it could be applied. Although there will ievitably be criticism of ay draft map, the first release would have bee less rushed ad better prepared if more time ad additioal VRA traiig had bee provided. Role for the Commissio i Future Redistrictig The Voters First Act established a decade-log role for the citizes commissio: The term of office of 27 A similar dyamic has developed i public-opiio pollig. As ewspapers ad other media outlets seek to obtai the services of ubiased but politically sophisticated pollig firms, they have created ad elarged the market for teams of Democratic ad Republica pollsters. 32 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

38 CHAPTER 3 Orgaizig the Commissio each member of the commissio expires upo the appoitmet of the first member of the succeedig commissio. 28 I additio to drawig the lies, voters vested the commissio with the authority to defed lawsuits that might be filed agaist the maps produced by the commissio. However, this importat role was largely completed by the ed of State fudig was largely elimiated, most staff were laid off, ad the commissio moved ito a period of ifrequet meetigs i late This report proposes that the curret commissio should help lay the groudwork for the ext commissio s work. The ext commissio will eed the opportuity to chart its ow course, to make decisios about orgaizatio, leadership, ad approach. But the existig commissio should help fill the gap i preparatio that will precede the selectio of state agecies ad outside istitutios to gather research ad set the stage for the redistrictig process. Specific tasks could iclude idetifyig idividuals ad orgaizatios capable of assistig the commissio o a professioal basis; explorig models of professioal support, such as bipartisa cosultig teams; helpig begi the process of collectig data that the ext commissio will eed; commuicatig with the media ad others about the importace of citize redistrictig; ad maitaiig ad expadig the writte records ad oral recollectios of participats i the redistrictig process. I the broader sese, the 2011 commissio should advocate for the idepedece ad orgaizatioal support ecessary to make the ext commissio successful. Coclusios Ultimately, the commissioers had to decide how to deliberate, with limited guidace o how to proceed. Eve with the major orgaizatioal problems oted here, they foud a way to make reasoable decisios i a compressed time frame. They worked hard, with log hours of public hearigs, committee meetigs, ad deliberatios. I order to be successful, a citize commissio must have a process that allows ad ecourages staff to assist ad at times guide the commissio i its process. Although staff must be careful ot to itrude o policy decisios, the commissio must etrust admiistrative tasks to the staff so that the commissioers ca focus o their core resposibilities: drawig district boudaries. The State Auditor, or a comparable orgaizatio such as the Legislative Aalyst, should coduct the selectio process i the ext iteratio; other states seekig to adopt the Califoria model should idetify a agecy kow for its impartiality ad professioal skill. A full support system for the operatio of the commissio must be i place before the commissio covees, icludig guidace o selectig staff ad cosultats, advice o dealig with admiistrative matters, ad iformatio about how commissios allocate time ad resources. This iformatio should be provided by a sigle govermetal agecy or outside orgaizatio with relevat experiece. Compesatio should be addressed before the commissioers take office. Compesatio should be set with referece to comparable boards ad commissios withi ad outside the state of Califoria. Cosistet with the geeral directio of this commissio, the ext commissio should have a level of compesatio that would allow people of moderate meas the chace to serve. Commissioers should establish the criteria ad job descriptios for staff ad cosultats, through a public process, ad make hirig decisios from the widest array of qualified applicats. New staff models should be explored, icludig bipartisa teams. The state should assig a staff perso to hadle logistical matters for the commissio. The commissio should cast a wide et for staff from both iside ad outside the state govermet ad with experiece workig with appoited or elected citize bodies. The commissioers should delegate admiistrative tasks as much as possible to staff ad cosultats. 28 Cal. Gov. Code , 2(c)(4). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 33

39 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process The commissioers made obtaiig iput from the public a high priority. I additio, they were advised that public iput was the sole vehicle they could use for drawig lies aroud Commuities of Iterest (COIs). The commissio udertook major efforts to reach the public, icludig hearigs ad other public evets. The scale of iput they received was staggerig. For reasos of budget ad time, the commissio was uable to pursue a cosultig cotract for public outreach ad depeded o themselves, the staff, ad the work of private oprofit orgaizatios. 34 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

40 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process The citize commissioers prioritized solicitig, receivig, ad evaluatig public iput. They focused itesively o outreach at their first meetig as a full commissio o Jauary 12, The committee o outreach drew the most voluteers amog commissio members. Commissioer Michelle DiGuilio observed that everybody wated to be o the outreach committee. Voters expected that redistrictig would move forward with trasparecy ad sigificat public iput. A 2007 survey foud that the most popular compoets of the iitiative iclude takig politics out of the process ad the requiremet for more opeess. 1 A trasparet process that egaged the public would be a stark cotrast to previous, isider-domiated lie drawigs. As the scope of the outreach became evidet, ad facig a deadlie to complete the redistrictig, the commissioers cosidered hirig a professioal outreach cosultat. This outreach group might have helped facilitate the traslatio of the commissio s work to the public ad helped to orgaize the public iput ito a form that was easily digestible by commissioers ad by members of the public. Sacrameto State Uiversity s Ceter for Collaborative Policy submitted a proposal to provide a broad rage of outreach services, with a price tag that exceeded $800, Commissioer Cythia Dai oted that for the cost, the proposal added isufficiet value beyod what the commissioers, staff, ad cosultats would have had to do ayway. Commissioers resolved to coduct outreach o their ow. The commissio s director of commuicatios, Rob Wilcox, coordiated the commissio s media effort. The lie-drawig cosultat firm Q2 s agreemet required that the firm s staff collect public iput at the hearigs for the use of commissioers. The commissio s ow outreach icluded speakig to the media ad addressig public meetigs, issuig press releases, holdig public hearigs, streamig 1 Califoria Redistrictig: A Report o the Survey Coducted by Lake Research Parters ad the Tarrace Group, based o a telephoe survey of 800 likely 2008 geeral electio voters coducted betwee July 26 ad August 2, The survey foud that more tha 60 percet of the voters attached great importace to a ope process as a reaso to support the ballot measure. 2 Staff discussio with commissio foud i trascript, Combied Meetig of the Techical Advisory Committee ad the Outreach Advisory Committee, April 7, Several Days i the Life of a Commissioer: April 27 May 2, 2011 Jodie Filkis Webber, Attorey April 27 Court appearace i Sata Aa at 8:30 a.m. Picked up commissioer Cythia Dai at Log Beach Airport at 11 a.m. Commissio busiess meetig i Log Beach at 1:00 p.m. Commissio public iput hearig from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. or so Drove home to Norco (meetig was withi 70 miles, so o reimbursemet for hotel expeses) April 28 Court appearace i Pomoa at 8:30 a.m. Commissio busiess meetig i Los Ageles at 1 p.m. Commissio public iput hearig from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Drove home to Norco April 29 Drove from Norco to my office i Orage Drove to Sa Gabriel at 3 p.m. Commissio public iput hearig i Sa Gabriel from 6 p.m. util? Drove home to Norco April 30 Drove to Sa Ferado for commissio busiess meetig at 10:00 a.m. Commissio public iput hearig from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. or so Stayed i Pasadea May 1 Drove from Pasadea to Lacaster Commissio busiess meetig at 10 a.m. Commissio public iput hearig from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Remaied i Lacaster May 2 Took depositio of party i Lacaster (coordiated with commissio meetig i Lacaster) from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Drove to Riverside for redistrictig presetatio to the Wester Riverside Coucil of Govermets at 3 p.m. HOME EARLY before 5 p.m.! Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 35

41 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process deliberatio meetigs live o video, ad providig a website that icluded commissio records ad documets. The commissio had iherited a website that was difficult to update, ad some time passed before a more adaptable model could be implemeted. The commissio summarized its overall approach: All of the Commissio s public meetigs were live-streamed, captured o video, ad placed o the Commissio s website for public viewig at ay time. Steographers were preset at the Commissio busiess meetigs ad meetigs where istructios were provided to Q2 Data ad Research, LLC, the compay retaied to implemet the Commissio s directios ad to draw the draft districts ad fial maps. Trascripts of meetigs were also placed o the Commissio s website. Fially, all of the completed documets prepared by the Commissio ad its staff, alog with all documets preseted to the Commissio by the public ad suitable for postig were posted to the Commissio s website for public review. 3 The broadest outreach challege for the commissio was to obtai useful iput from the public. Studies of public participatio icreasigly emphasize the delicate balace betwee obtaiig maximum public iput especially from those idividuals or groups ot traditioally wired ito the decisio process ad absorbig useful iformatio that decisio makers might ot otherwise receive: Quatitative measures how may hits, visitors, page views, commets, etc. are seductive. They are easy to gather through olie aalytics tools, easy to preset i attractive charts ad tables, ad easy to compare over time ad across versios. Without doubt, such metrics ca give desigers useful iformatio. But if more is ot the same as better, the success ca t be defied by umbers. 4 3 State of Califoria, Citizes Redistrictig Commissio, Fial Report o 2011 Redistrictig, August 15, 2011, pp Cythia R. Faria, Mary J. Newhart, Josiah Heidt, ad Corell erulemakig Iitiative, Rulemakig vs. Democracy: Judgig ad Nudgig Public Participatio that Couts, Corell e-rulemakig Iitiative Table 6. Commissioers Public Appearaces Commissioer Jue 10, 2011, ad Prior Jue 11 August 15, 2011 Vicet Barabba 12 5 Cythia Dai 14 8 Staley Forbes 19 6 Coie Galambos Malloy 12 4 Jeae Raya 9 6 Jodie Filkis Webber 15 3 Peter Yao 15 4 Gabio Aguirre 7 1 Maria Blaco 8 2 Michelle R. DiGuilio 11 2 Lilbert Gil R. Otai 10 0 M. Adre Parveu 7 1 Michael Ward 8 0 Agelo Acheta 8 3 Totals The commissioers sought to balace their desire to maximize useful public iput with their commitmet to hear all poits of view. If people traveled from afar ad had to wait a log time to speak, they were ulikely to welcome a extesive public educatio sessio o redistrictig. Commissioer DiGuilio oted that i early hearigs, presetatios that delayed the start of public testimoy aoyed members of the public. Lackig a sigificat outreach budget, the commissioers struggled to reach their goal of explaiig redistrictig to a wider public. Accordig to Commissioer Peter Yao, We did ot have ay moey to do ay teachig or outreach of our ow, so we just had to collect iput. We were barely able to do it. Because the commissioers faced iitial obstacles i buildig their staff ad cosultat teams ad i gettig the data they eeded to start mappig, they decided to pursue aggressive outreach durig the first few moths. Although they felt a urgecy to get started o the work of mappig, Q2 advised them that o real mappig work could begi util all the cesus data were received i Publicatios, paper 3 (2012), 36 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

42 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process April. The schedule of hearigs was frot-loaded i part to advace the agoizigly slow process of gettig the deliberatios uder way. Commissioer Staley Forbes suggested holdig roughly oe hudred public hearigs throughout the state before ad after the release of draft maps. Commissioers backed off from this ambitious pla i the face of practical obstacles. The commissio held twety-three public iput hearigs aroud the state before issuig a set of draft maps o Jue 10, Followig a five-day public review period, the commissio held eleve more public iput hearigs to collect reactios ad commets about the iitial draft maps. 5 All commissioers were expected to atted these hearigs, ad Q2 collected ad catalogued the public iput. 6 The hearigs drew large audieces. The level of itesity surprised Commissioer Gil Otai, who recouted that people came hudreds of miles, drove six to eight hours, ad there were lots of presetatios. Durig the peak of the commissio s work, i the sprig of 2011, commissioers spet log days balacig commissio meetigs ad public hearigs with the obligatios of their ow jobs. Commissioers were willig to speak to the press ad at commuity meetigs ad made a total of 245 public appearaces from the begiig of the process to the ed. Commissioers public appearaces were as diverse as they were geographically scattered. 7 After the release of the first maps o Jue 10, commissioers made the reasoable decisio to sped the bulk of their time o mappig, ad public appearaces declied i 5 Ibid. 6 Some commissioers carpooled across the state to the public hearigs. Commissioer Otai foud these advetures to be a importat bodig experiece for the members. 7 These appearaces icluded iterviews ad meetigs with radio statios ad ewspapers all across the state (e.g., KCBS Radio, KQED Public Radio, Idia Voices, Filipio News, Idia West, the Chico Eterprise Press, Oroville Mercury Register, Asia Joural, the Sa Diego Tribue, the Los Ageles Times, ad the Sa Fracisco Chroicle); speakig at Redistrictig Cofereces, at board meetigs, ad before groups like the Log Beach Republica Wome Federated, the Wester Riverside Coucil of Govermets Executive Committee i Riverside, ad the Black Social Workers Associatio i Los Ageles; servig as paelists at evets like the NALEO coferece ad aother o ethic media; ad speakig at the opeig of the Redistrictig Assistace Ceters i Sacrameto, Sa Diego, ad Los Ageles. For a full list of the commissioers public appearaces, see wedrawthelies. ca.gov/commuity.html, accessed Jauary 10, NOTEWorthY 245 Commissioers made a total of 245 public appearaces durig the course of the process. umber. I the lead-up to the release of the first maps o Jue 10, commissioers made a total of 155 public appearaces; after Jue 10, though, they decided to sped the bulk of their time o mappig, ad public appearaces declied to 45 (see table 6). The criticism the commissio faced, first about the Jue 10 maps ad the about the decisio ot to release the secod-draft maps, may have made public appearaces less appealig as well. 8 Most of the commissioers had little experiece with public criticism. A experieced commissioer, Peter Yao, advised Jeae Raya that criticism is ormal for commissioers ad told her ot to worry about it. 9 I releasig the draft maps o Jue 10, the commissio made its sigle most importat outreach decisio. No matter how may opportuities people have to speak at public meetigs, or how may draft maps people or groups trasmit to a commissio, othig geerates real public iput more tha a cocrete proposal. Commissioers were ambivalet about releasig the maps, kowig they cotaied potetial problems that had ot bee resolved. However, they put their reservatios aside i order to move the process forward Oe observer suggested that the egative reactio to the first set of maps seemed to make commissioers a bit more reclusive tha i the earlier days, whe they migled freely with the public i the maer of elected officials. (Matt Rexroad, iterview). 9 Aother commissioer, Gabio Aguirre, who had previously absorbed public criticism durig his service as a city coucil member, oted that other commissioers showed more cocer about it tha he did. 10 Commissioer Maria Blaco was so cocered about some of the shortcomigs of the maps i the area of votig rights that she cosidered votig o. She ultimately voted to release the draft maps i order to help the commissio stay o track. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 37

43 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process With time short, the commissioers chose ot to release a secod set of draft maps i July but rather to coduct a series of visualizatios oe district at a time. The visualizatios were maps of particular districts that the commissioers could adjust oe at a time i public debate. They were preseted at public, televised meetigs of the commissio held i Sacrameto. The visualizatios simply reflected the actual decisios made by the commissioers. Members of the public could commet i real time, ad they set umerous s durig the examiatio of the visualizatios. The commissioers had the opportuity to see how the characteristics of a idividual district could chage based o differet groupigs of Commuities of Iterest. Opiios about the visualizatios varied widely. For those i the room, they provided a immediate ad eve dramatic way to uderstad the impact of chages to district lies. For those watchig o televisio or uable to watch at all, the process could be distat ad cofusig. As Rosalid Gold of NALEO poited out: If you re ot there i Sacrameto, there s o way to commet o a movig target. So they re makig chages, they re mappig. There was ot good video streamig or video access to those hearigs. Ad plus you had to be watchig the hearigs every miute to see what was goig o with visualizatio. 11 Outreach by Other Orgaizatios The commissio came to rely o outside orgaizatios to bolster its public outreach. Votig-rights groups were already ivolved, havig moitored the commissioer-selectio process. Civic orgaizatios such as the League of Wome Voters of Califoria closely followed the deliberatios ad provided outreach materials to the public to foster participatio. The James Irvie Foudatio gave grats to te orgaizatios to icrease public participatio i the deliberatio process. Irvie gratees udertook a um- 11 Iterview with Rosalid Gold. Table 7. James Irvie Foudatio Grats durig Deliberatio Process ber of efforts desiged to help the public provide useful iput ito the commissio s deliberatios. For example, Irvie gratees did the followig: Orgaizatio Grat Amout Advacemet Project* $290,000 Asia Pacific America Legal Ceter of $365,000 Souther Califoria (APALC) Cetral Coast Alliace Uited for a $150,000 Sustaiable Ecoomy (CAUSE) Califoria Commo Cause** Commuity Coalitio* (for the Africa $190,000 America Redistrictig Collaborative) Mexica America Legal Defese ad $150,000 Educatio Fud (MALDEF) Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad $225,000 Appoited Officials (NALEO) Educatioal Fud Sa Diego Foudatio for Chage $100,000 The Greeliig Istitute $225,000 Uiversity of Califoria at Berkeley, $735,000 Statewide Database* *Amout reflects the total of two grats made to this orgaizatio. **Califoria Commo Cause received a grat of $250,000 for work durig both the commissioer selectio ad deliberatio phases, accouted for i Table 3, page 20 of this report. Developed educatioal materials used by a wide rage of orgaizatios. Coducted outreach to iform the public of opportuities to participate i the redistrictig process. Traied thousads of Califorias to provide public commet ad map proposals to the commissio. Collected regioal public iput ad icorporated it ito statewide map proposals shared with the commissio. Operated six techical-assistace sites ad a comprehesive website that provided the public with i-perso ad olie access to redistrictig data ad mappig software. Prepared legal briefs examiig the effects of recet laws ad ruligs o the state s redistrictig process. 38 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

44 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process Additioally, Irvie supported the draftig of this report i order to iform future redistrictig efforts. The James Irvie Foudatio gave a umber of grats, ragig from $100,000 to $735,000, to various groups workig to icrease public participatio i the deliberatio process. For reasos of time ad moey, the commissio had to rely o outside groups such as the Irvie-fuded orgaizatios to carry out much of its outreach program. Ad, at least i some cases, the commissio used materials created by the parters as their ow hadouts to the public. Commissioer Agelo Acheta oted that it would have bee difficult i ay case for the commissio to create a outreach ifrastructure from scratch. The James Irvie Foudatio provided grats totalig $735,000 to UC Berkeley to establish Redistrictig Assistace Sites (also called Techical Assistace Sites or Ceters). 12 The sites opeed i March Directed by the Redistrictig Group at the UC Berkeley School of Law (affiliated with the Statewide Database) ad directed by Kari Mac Doald s Q2, sites opeed i Sa Diego, Los Ageles, Sa Berardio, Freso, Sacrameto, ad Berkeley. The sites made computers ad redistrictig software (Maptitude for Redistrictig) available to the geeral public to develop map submissios or testimoy for the commissio durig its deliberatios. Each site had oe maager who was available to assist cliets usig the workstatios either durig dropi hours or by appoitmet. Startig o July 12, 2011, the public could view the commissio map visualizatios i detail at the redistrictig sites. Each ceter was 12 Sites ad Ceters are used iterchageably i this report. NOTEWorthY 12,746 There were 12,746 visits to the ReDrawCA website i the peak three moths of the process. equipped with two desktop computers with Maptitude for Redistrictig istalled, a laptop for the maager to commuicate with ad use i presetatios, ad a ikjet color priter. The maagers estimated that betwee fiftee ad thirty maps (from oe district to full statewide plas) developed at each site were submitted to the commissio. Commissio members spoke at some Irvie-fuded workshops held at the ceters, ad they discussed the ceters i press materials, o the website, ad at multiple hearigs. 13 The ceters experieced waves of traffic before deadlies for submissio of testimoy to the commissio. At the Berkeley ceter, cliets icludig mappers for the Califoria Coservative Actio Group (CCAG), a local Tea Party group, ad the Sierra Club worked o full redistrictig plas to submit to the commissio. Aother Irvie-supported project, ReDrawCA, provided the public with olie access to the commissio s maps ad data. Operated by the Advacemet Project, ad supported by grats of $290,000 from The James Irvie Foudatio, ReDrawCA allowed users to access up-to-date versios of the commissio maps ad to draw their ow maps. The Advacemet Project held a umber of webiars ad ope office hours to promote ReDrawCA ad provide techical traiig ad support. The Advacemet Project also shared ReDrawCA at the majority of the local redistrictig hearigs ad provided fliers to the commissio. The program bega o April 15, 2011, ad over the ext three moths (i the thick of the map-drawig process), there were 12,746 visits to the ReDrawCA website. The redistrictig commissio also referred people to the ReDrawCA website, accoutig for 1,216 visitors. 14 A examiatio of the commissio website 15 idicates umerous examples of maps created through either the redistrictig ceters or ReDrawCA. Some of the maps were accompaied by coget explaatios of COIs Oe of the three Helpful Liks o the commissio website is about the ceters: accessed August 25, Data provided by Caitli Flit, Advacemet Project. 15 See Meetig Hadouts, accessed August 25, 2012, thelies.ca.gov/meetig_hadouts.html. 16 Oe example is a argumet for coastal districts, icludig maps, submitted by the Sierra Club. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 39

45 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process Although these resources helped some members of the public to participate, they were ot a sufficiet replacemet for techological tools the commissio itself could have provided. Because the commissio did ot create ad host a olie mappig tool o its ow website, may members of the public likely did ot kow how to access such a tool. Also, some members of the public complaied that the commissio did ot provide easy ad immediate access to data files ecessary to provide thorough map proposals, aalysis, ad testimoy. The work of the commissio geerated far more public iterest ad iput tha ayoe had imagied. Outside groups ad idividuals followed the developmet of the commissio s maps with great iterest. These mappers, though, had difficulty gettig permissio to access the commissio s data, kow as shapefiles, which were required to build the maps. 17 Shapefiles showed the precise boudaries of the commissio s drafts ad with mappig software could be overlaid o various levels of data to let the public assess the legal compliace ad political impact of the maps. The legal team that advised the commissio raised cocers about releasig this iformatio because of its possible impact o litigatio. 18 Evetually, though belatedly, portios of the iformatio became available to those outside the commissio. Itese public iterest i the work of the commissio created a demad for up-to-date maps that reflected decisios as they happeed. I particular, may observers wated to kow what the political implicatios of lie-drawig would be. Several web- 17 Iterview with Paul Mitchell. 18 Because these cocers were expressed i closed sessios, it is difficult to assess the merit of this advice. sites became popular because, ulike the commissio itself, they icluded political data that would allow a assessmet of who gaied ad who lost from the proposed lies. Oe advatage these websites possessed was the ability to display political data such as party registratio ad votig patters. I pursuit of Prop 11 s madate to avoid favorig or discrimiatig agaist [a] cadidate or political party, the commissio decided ot to explore such data. 19 A future commissio would be well served by releasig the techical data that would allow others to draw maps, eve if those maps iclude political data that the commissio itself chooses ot to cosider. Clearly the commissio had a uusual relatioship with outside orgaizatios. The commissio could ot cotrol the outside groups, which were directly accoutable to their ow costituecies ad i some cases to The James Irvie Foudatio. Neither the groups or the Irvie Foudatio could tell the commissio what to do, beyod offerig advice. 20 Geerally, though, the commissioers cosidered the work of the outside parters to be idispesable, sice the commissio was uable, for reasos of time ad moey, to fud its ow outreach program. The budget of the ext commissio should iclude sufficiet fuds to provide user-friedly tools ad techology that give the public thorough access to data ad proposals ad easy opportuities to provide effective testimoy ad proposed maps. Absorbig Public Iput The work of the commissio geerated far more public iterest ad iput tha ayoe had imagied. Summaries by the commissio idicated the followig ivetory of public commets: a total of 34 public hearigs; more tha 70 deliberatio meetigs; meetigs ad hearigs i 32 cities ad 23 couties; more tha 2,700 speakers at hearigs; ad writte submis- 19 Redistrictig websites like redistrictigparters.org (Paul Mitchell) or mpimaps.com (Matt Rexroad) received cosiderable traffic. Re- DrawCA was able to display maps that icluded more data tha the commissio maps. 20 Some Republicas who followed the process complaied that Irvie was pushig the commissio too far i the pursuit of diversity. 40 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

46 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process sios from more tha 2,000 orgaizatios ad more tha 20,000 idividuals. A large volume of public iput bolstered the commissio s credibility. As with the more tha 30,000 people who iitially sought commissio positios, the level of iterest itself became a factor i evaluatig the commissio s work. The scale of public iput both pleased ad challeged the commissioers. Commissioer Raya said that the scope of public commet was both woderful ad terrible; s were pigig all day. Commissioer Adre Parveu remembered, We were iudated day ad ight with , faxes, maps. Commissioer Acheta praised the heavy emphasis o iput but foud it difficult to process the iformatio, especially as the process moved ito mappig. Some public hearigs wet o util late at ight, so that commissioers could hear all the members of the public who atteded. I the early days, the professioal stadig of the commissioers took a blow i the eyes of experieced observers i the audiece who thought the commissioers did ot kow who was behid the apparetly spotaeous commets of preseters. Some suspected that public speakers were agets of icumbet elected officials. There was othig i the process to prevet a politicia from ecouragig a fried or ally to seek to persuade the commissio to take favorable actios while maskig the source of the iput. Others felt that the squeaky wheel got the grease. 21 By the ed of the process, cosiderable disagreemet arose over the extet to which these efforts were successful (see chapter 8). Udoubtedly, some were. However, a umber of elected officials foud themselves i ufamiliar districts i which they had difficulty wiig. Commissioers idicated i iterviews that they were more aware of the ature of these commets tha was widely assumed. But certaily for some who were less familiar with the dyamics of public hearigs, it was a challege to weigh the public commets. Commissioer Parveu recalled that for less experieced commissioers like himself, evaluatig the testimoy became much easier as time passed. 21 Iterview with Toy Qui. NOTEWorthY 20,000 Idividuals submitted more tha 20,000 writte commets to the commissio. Whe commissioers did try to publicly demostrate that they uderstood who was speakig, they ra ito accusatios of isesitivity. It was a o-wi situatio. Commissioers were justifiably cocered that cofrotatioal questios from commissioers could create a chillig effect o members of the public who wished to commet. Whe Commissioer Jodie Filkis Webber challeged the testimoy of speakers from South Los Ageles for apparetly beig recruited by a elected official, she was criticized by other commissioers ad by members of the public. The commissio grappled with the challege of absorbig, weighig, ad evaluatig the immese quatity of public iput. Commissioers, staff, ad cosultats already facig a urealistically tight schedule with limited resources fought a uphill battle to keep up with public commet ad to provide curret iformatio to the public. They eeded to absorb the iput, but i attemptig to do so they risked takig valuable time from the task of drawig the lies. Q2 staff had bee attedig public hearigs, collectig data o public commet, ad tryig to keep the commissioers iformed. A group of Q2 persoel separate from the actual mappers had the resposibility of compilig public iput. The COI testimoy from the public hearigs i April ad May critically iformed the drawig of the Jue 10 first-draft maps. Because commissioers had bee advised by Q2 that public iput was to be the sole source of iformatio i defiig COIs, they had to seek clues i the public commet. The questio became how to weigh testimoy. Although the commissioers Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 41

47 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process became extremely coversat with the various commuities of the state, they still struggled with the moutai of public testimoy collected durig those hearigs, at regular commissio meetigs, ad by . Oe of the commissio s greatest stregths was its commitmet to ecouragig ad absorbig public iput. The commissio had authorized Q2 to create a iput database from the start of the process, but that task demaded more staff i light of the short timelie ad the massive volume of public iput. O Jue 9, a day before releasig the first-draft maps, the commissio discussed authorizig Q2 to hire additioal staff to create a database of COI testimoy. Commissioer DiGuilio oted that the part of trackig our COI, the basis for our decisios has ot bee resolved as of yet. 22 The exhaustive COI database released o July 7 ra to 1,431 pages. Commissioers were evetually able to search the database by keywords, but the public had more difficulty with gaiig access to usable iformatio. 23 With more tha 20,000 commuicatios, icludig s, commissioers foud their ow ways to weigh ad evaluate them. Oe commissioer cosidered maps submitted to the commissio to be useless without kowig the assumptios that wet ito them. Aother preferred the s to the public hearigs. Commissioer Raya oted that maps from local busiess associatios ad cities were especially effective. 22 Commissio meetig, Jue 9, 2011, trascript. 23 Accordig to Kari Mac Doald, Q2 assiged oe team member to each meetig to summarize public commet o a spreadsheet. The commets received umeric codes. The public hearig database had 2,365 commets, of which 1,385 addressed COIs. Other public commets were etered ito the database. Q2 gave the commissioers a Excel file that was searchable as a PDF. The files were ot formatted for the public to be able to search the database. Commissioer Vicet Barabba recalled that he had a iteral filter system that helped him make sese of the testimoy ad the other iput. His first filter was to avoid beig too moved by obvious special iterests. After that, he foud the most useful iput to come from some of the best-orgaized ecoomic groups, such as busiess orgaizatios i the Sa Ferado Valley i Los Ageles, ad groups from some ethic commuities, such as i Los Ageles s Koreatow. With regard to the maps that came ito the commissio, Barabba cosidered the Asia Pacific America Legal Ceter to be extremely effective, because its team clearly uderstood the missio of the commissio ad the costraits the members faced. The value of other maps depeded o whether they were accompaied by ratioales cosistet with the legal requiremets of redistrictig. Commissioer Dai said that she would routiely scroll through the s o her phoe, quickly dismiss the repetitive oes ( 100 that all looked alike ), ad the read the oes that seemed more idividual. Before the first roud of draft maps were released o Jue 10, Africa America, Latio, ad Asia America groups had submitted their ow maps. Followig the cotroversy over the first set of draft maps, the three commuities came together to create a set of uity maps that were useful to the commissio i its fial deliberatios. Commissioers evetually decided to create twoperso committees withi each of the seve regios of the state to evaluate the public iput. Each committee would iclude oe perso familiar with the regio ad aother who was ot. Coclusios Oe of the commissio s greatest stregths was its commitmet to ecouragig ad absorbig public iput. Startig late, with limited resources, the commissio aggressively sought to geerate public commets. The commissioers attaied a extraordiary degree of outreach despite immese time pressure. However, there were ievitable gaps because the commissio did ot have professioal assistace to pla ad implemet their commuity outreach efforts. 42 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

48 CHAPTER 4 Outreach Durig the Deliberatio Process Their mai job was to draw the lies i light of public iput. With resources ad time i short supply, the commissio depeded o outside groups for some core elemets of their outreach. At times, the iterested public had difficulty coectig to the techical work that the commissio was coductig. The commissio struggled to absorb public iput i the maer that would be most useful to its deliberatios suggestios for COIs withi the costitutioal framework that boud the commissio s decisios. The ext commissio would be well advised to emulate this commissio s goal of widespread public participatio. The commissio though, must have greater assistace to reach its outreach goals. I the ext iteratio of the redistrictig process, the budget should iclude sufficiet fudig for a cosultat whose mai task is to collect ad aalyze public iput to the commissio ad to provide user-friedly tools ad techology that give the public thorough access to data ad proposals ad easy opportuities to provide effective testimoy ad proposed maps. Furthermore, with more time to deliberate, the ext commissio ca work more closely with outside groups from all poits of view to coordiate olie iformatio ad other methods for the public to access the commissio s work. As will be see i the followig chapters, demographic, ecoomic, ad other data gathered prior to receivig testimoy might have relieved the commissio of some of the burde of basig decisios largely o public commet, susceptible as it could be to ifluece from the political world. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 43

49 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 5 Mappig The commissio was scrupulous i attemptig to create maps aroud the madated raked criteria. Commuities of Iterest (COIs) were high i the rakigs. The mappig process was built aroud a first set of draft maps, a set of visualizatios of districts, ad a fial set of maps. The commissioers were advised that public iput was the sole meas of assessig COIs. For that reaso ad because of the press of time, they did ot have data that could have helped them weigh the public iput regardig the ature of various commuities. I the ext iteratio, the commissio should have early access to data about potetial districts that is idepedet of the public iput. 44 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

50 CHAPTER 5 Mappig The commissio coducted the bulk of the mappig i a two-moth period betwee Jue 10, whe it released the first set of maps, ad the ed of July. The districts were to be draw i perhaps the most geographically diverse state i the atio. No district could be draw i isolatio, ad eve a small chage i the boudary of oe district could affect several districts i a series of populatio switches ad rotatios. Before the commissio submitted the fial maps to the public o August 15, 2011, the districts had goe through multiple revisios. I the ed, despite umerous challeges ad costraits, the commissio addressed the six costitutioal criteria, while obtaiig cosiderable public iput. However, importat lessos ca be leared from this iaugural effort. The mappig process should begi earlier. Demographic ad other data should be used to complemet public testimoy. A more coheret ad accessible database of public testimoy should be created. Time ad budget should be allocated to allow for more effective trackig of revisios. Overview of the Mappig Process The U.S. Cesus Bureau released redistrictig data for Califoria o March 8, As a result of the late hirig of a mappig cosultat (o March 19), the delay i completig Q2 s cotract util April, ad the schedulig of public iput hearigs i April ad May, mappig did ot begi util late May. The bulk of the mappig took place i a two-moth period betwee late May ad late July. Districts were built startig with the largest uits (couties or cities) ad workig dow to cesus blocks whe cities or couties had to be split. Throughout the mappig process, most of the discussio focused o couties, cities, ad eighborhoods. Q2 divided Califoria ito ie regios distributed amog four mappers, each resposible for drawig assembly, seate, ad cogressioal districts i his or her regio. Q2 summarized the public commets for each of the ie regios, from which the commissio idetified desig priciples or geeral mappig directios for Q2. Q2 ad the commissio cosulted with VRA cousel regardig areas where districts should be draw to protect opportuities for miority commuities. The commissio outlied the process by which Q2 would create the first maps o May 5. 1 The commissio istructed Q2 to draw cogressioal districts with equal populatios (withi 1 percet of the ideal populatio of 702,905). Assembly ad seate districts could deviate o more tha 5 percet from their ideal populatios of 465,674 ad 931,349, respectively. The commissio the idicated that compliace with the VRA would be the ext priority. After that, city ad couty lies would guide the mappig, modified by COIs. As Q2 drew the maps, commissioers issued directives. Q2 staff would the preset a proposed district to the commissio ad briefly describe why they drew it that way. VRA cousel advised the commissioers ad Q2. Give the high priority of the VRA criterio i Califoria redistrictig, cousel advised the commissio to draw VRA districts first. These districts became importat buildig blocks for the maps. (See chapter 6 o the Votig Rights Act.) The first districts slated for drawig were several VRA districts, icludig the four Sectio 5 couties, ad areas with sigificat miority populatios. Sectio 5 of the VRA, which is described more fully i the ext chapter, cocers couties i which miority commuities have historically suffered discrimiatio. They are protected from retrogressio by the U.S. Departmet of Justice, which must approve ay maps ivolvig these jurisdictios. These districts were importat buildig blocks for the district maps. Some districts, such as the Merced ad Kigs Sectio 5 districts, were established early i the process ad iflueced the drawig of adjacet districts. For example, Commissioer Cythia Dai described the Merced cogressioal district as a immovable puzzle piece. 2 Map 1 shows that the Jue 10 lies were ot substatially chaged i the fial maps for three of the four districts. I a umber of cases, the commissio respoded to public iput by creatig hard lies for Q2 to follow. At oe poit, the commissio created visualizatios of districts that would have crossed the Golde Gate Bridge. But after substatial public iput, the commis- 1 Priciples for Drawig Prelimiary Maps, commissio documet dated May 5, Commissio meetig, Jue 29, 2011, trascript. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 45

51 CHAPTER 5 Mappig sio decided ot to cross the bridge, which affected the drawig of districts throughout the Bay Area ad Norther Califoria. Commissioer Staley Forbes recalled itese public commet from residets of Mari Couty highlightig the COIs that were o each side of the bridge. Other hard boudaries icluded the Moterey Sa Luis Obispo ad Ker Sa Luis Obispo couty borders ad the Coachella Valley area betwee Riverside ad Imperial couties. I geeral, VRA cousel advised the commissio to draw miority-majority districts i areas where a miority group was cocetrated. However, at the same time, cousel advised the commissio ot to create districts with high cocetratios of a ethic group (more tha 65 to 70 percet of the Citize Votig Age Populatio, or CVAP), because the its represetatio would likely be weaker i adjacet districts (a approach kow as packig ). The commissio evetually attempted to create miority districts with about 50- to 55-percet represetatio by a miority group, although may of the iitial draft maps ad some fial maps had higher ethic cocetratios. The Jue 10 Draft Maps The process of creatig the first-draft maps released o Jue 10 was rushed. Although the commissioers kew that the Jue 10 maps represeted oly a first draft, most saw o alterative to releasig them. Somethig had to be put out i public. The draft maps geerated sigificat oppositio from Latio votig-rights orgaizatios, which complaied that too few districts had bee devised i which Latios would be able to exert ifluece commesurate with their growig populatio. I ay case, the Jue 10 draft maps usefully focused public iput. With actual maps to which they could react, members of the public could offer cocrete proposals to keep or amed the proposed lies. With a pla o the table ad the public showig greater iterest, the commissio etered the critical period of its work: drawig of the fial maps. The commissio ad Q2 embarked o a itese period of mappig from Jue 24 to July 28. This four-week period costituted the heart of the citize redistrictig process. MAP 1: Sectio 5 Cogressioal Districts Leged CD 3 10 Jue Districts Fial Districts CD 20 CD 16 CD 21 The pressures of respodig to the moutai of public testimoy ad the promise to respect the iterests of diverse etities forced the commissioers to make chages to their process. They decided to create workig visualizatios rather tha the complete set of secod-draft maps that they had origially promised to release o July This decisio reflected the late start to the mappig process ad the lack of time to complete a full set of secod-draft maps. Although the visualizatios allowed the commissio to fiish its work i a timely maer, some members of the public complaied that this process was difficult to follow without beig i the room. The commissioers also decided to divide the state amog pairs of commissioers resposible for absorbig the volumious public testimoy for each area. As 3 Ulike the fial maps due o August 15, these secod-draft maps were a promise by the commissio ot required by law. 46 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

52 CHAPTER 5 Mappig Commissioer Michelle DiGuilio stated at the Jue 23 meetig: We, as commissioers, are still resposible for lookig at other areas outside our regio, what we re tryig to do is add oe extra layer, which is to have i-depth coverage by pairigs of commissioers. 4 Case Study: Los Ageles Couty Cogressioal Districts A detailed examiatio of the drawig of cogressioal districts i metropolita Los Ageles reveals the challeges of creatig cogressioal districts i a sprawlig ad diverse urba regio cosistig of eighty-eight icorporated cities ad umerous uicorporated commuities. Commissioer Forbes believed, i retrospect, that the four Sectio 5 couties posed less complicated challeges tha Souther Califoria ad that begiig public hearigs with the complex, multiethic Los Ageles regio would have bee a better approach. Sa Ferado Valley (CD 29 ad CD 30) The drawig of two cogressioal districts i the Sa Ferado Valley was marked by substatial cosesus. The valley is a geographically distict part of Los Ageles. Physically, it is a large ilad basi surrouded by moutais. The Valley grew rapidly after World War II as suburba subdivisios ad factories replaced farm fields. Sice the 1960s, the Sa Ferado Valley has experieced a iflux of Latios ito workig-class districts alog the idustrial corridors i the easter valley. Latios activists had protested the 2001 redistrictig, which created two eighborig cogressioal districts i the valley that protected white icumbets (Howard Berma ad Brad Sherma) who might otherwise have faced challeges from Latio cadidates. The citize commissio, charged with drawig lies ot boud by icumbet self-iterest, would be closely watched i the valley. 4 Commissio meetig, Jue 23, 2011, trascript. Sa Ferado Valley East (CD 29) was the first district draw i the regio, based o COI testimoy, ad the madate uder Sectio 2 of the Votig Rights Act to draw districts, where possible, i which miority commuities could have a opportuity to elect cadidates of their choice. This district was 51 percet Latio, ad it also reflected the recommedatio frequetly made i public testimoy to use the 405 (Sa Diego) Freeway as a dividig lie betwee the easter ad wester parts of the valley. 5 Beyod buildig this ew district, the commissioers respoded to cosistet public testimoy from idividuals ad orgaizatios to follow the geographical boudaries of the valley. The commissioers maitaied COIs ad eighborhood-coucil 6 boudaries i dividig the East Sa Ferado Valley (CD 29) ad West Sa Ferado Valley (CD 30). For example, Mulhollad Drive alog the crest of the Sata Moica Moutais ad Hollywood Hills separates CD 30 from CD 33 to the south. Commissioers also referred to maps submitted by the Valley Idustry ad Commerce Associatio (VICA) i drawig the district boudaries. I maps preseted by Q2 to the commissio o Jue 1, the valley was split amog three districts that wet beyod its borders. I additio to Sa Ferado Valley East, parts of the valley were icluded i the Atelope Sata Clarita ad Sa Ferado Valley West East Vetura Couty districts. The latter district exteded from the Vetura Los Ageles couty-lie beach area through the wester Sa Ferado Valley to the Hollywood Hills. The Jue 10 maps created a more compact Sa Ferado Valley West district. This was based o the desire of Thousad Oaks residets to keep their city itact i at least oe level of districts. At the Jue 7 meetig, where the commissio gave fial directios to Q2 for the first-draft maps, Commissioer Dai requested that Thousad Oaks be kept whole i a cogressioal district. To accomplish this, the mappers rotated popu- 5 Full Commissio Busiess Meetig, Norco City Coucil Chambers, Norco, Califoria, May 5, 2011, trascript. 6 I 1999, a charter revisio i Los Ageles established a system of advisory eighborhood coucils. More tha iety were i place durig the redistrictig process, coverig most of the city. The boudaries of eighborhood coucils were established by those groups that applied for eighborhood coucil status, based o criteria that resembled commuities of iterest. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 47

53 CHAPTER 5 Mappig latio amog three districts. Thousad Oaks was moved etirely ito the East Vetura Couty district, alog with Agoura Hills ad Westlake Village. The West Sa Ferado Valley added the commuities of Graada Hills ad Porter Rach, plus a portio of the city of Sata Clarita. Although this chage required splittig Sata Clarita, it uited West Valley commuities ad respected the desire of valley residets to maitai the area s itegrity as much as possible. It also respoded to the wishes of the Coejo Valley cities (Thousad Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills) to be together. These maps solidified the cocept of two Sa Ferado Valley districts, icludig a majority Latio district i the easter half of the valley. I the July 8 maps, the East Sa Ferado Valley district gaied Va Nuys, Valley Gle, ad North Hollywood ad lost the foothill commuities of Shadow Hills ad La Tua Cayo. With mior boudary chages, this revised district would be maitaied i the fial map ad remaied a majority Latio district. MAP 2: Sa Ferado Valley CDs Sata Clarita The West Sa Ferado Valley district experieced subsequet revisios to compesate for chages made i adjacet districts. I the July 8 map, Reseda, the souther part of Sata Clarita, ad Calabasas were moved to adjacet districts. To add populatio, the district was exteded south to iclude Bel Air ad Beverly Hills. At the July 9 meetig, some commissioers expressed cocer that residets i the wealthy Westside eighborhoods might domiate politics i the West Sa Ferado Valley district. They directed Q2 to shift Beverly Hills ad Bel Air south to the Westside district. For the fial maps, Mulhollad Drive was maitaied as a dividig lie betwee the Sa Ferado Valley ad the Westside of Los Ageles. To compesate for the removal of Beverly Hills ad Bel Air, the West Sa Ferado Valley district was exteded east alog the Vetura Boulevard corridor to take i Ecio, Valley Gle, ad North Hollywood. This would be oe of the easiest ad least cotroversial areas to map. The Sa Ferado Valley districts respected the boudaries of the valley to a sigificat degree ad reflected the ethic geography of the valley by creatig a Latio-majority district i the easter half of the valley. These districts are a very good example of commissioers followig the costitutioal criteria ad igorig political partisaship ad icumbecy i drawig maps. For example, two Democratic icumbets foud themselves competig agaist each other 7 for the ew CD 30 seat i Map 2 shows the borders of the Jue 10 districts, compared to the fial lies. Leged 10 Jue Districts CD 29: East Sa Ferado Valley CD 30: West Sa Ferado Valley Los Ageles Westside Los Ageles, Culver City Creshaw, ad South Bay (Cogressioal Districts 33, 43, ad 47) South Los Ageles, by cotrast, emerged as oe of the most cotroversial elemets of the cogressioal redistrictig. For some years, Africa Americas had represeted three cogressioal districts i South Los Ageles, despite omajority Africa America populatios. With the Africa America share of the local populatio i log-term declie, the commissioers iitially believed that creatig at least oe Africa 7 Cogressma Brad Sherma defeated Cogressma Howard Berma for this seat. 48 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

54 CHAPTER 5 Mappig America majority district would be favored by the Africa America commuity. A early set of maps, preseted to the commissio o May 28, created a Creshaw-Iglewood district that was 59 percet Africa America ad 29 percet Latio. This district icluded the city of Iglewood ad most of the eighborhoods of South Los Ageles. However, some commissioers expressed cocer that this ivolved packig Africa Americas ito oe district. This would make adjacet districts less favorable tha before to Africa America costituecies. These cocers were addressed i the Jue 10 maps, which created three districts i the southwest regio of Los Ageles Couty i which Africa Americas represeted percet of the total populatio (ad betwee 30 ad 40 percet of the estimated CVAP). As show i Map 3, these districts icluded Culver City Creshaw, Iglewood South Los Ageles, ad Hawthore-Gardea-Compto. I additio, a log coastal district coected Sata Moica, the airport area, the beach cities, ad the Palos Verdes peisula. The West Los Ageles Dowtow district stretched from Malibu to Dowtow Los Ageles. This elogated district combied disparate eighborhoods, from the affluet Beverly Hills ad Bel Air to the immigrat, workig-class eighborhoods Westlake ad Pico-Uio. The commissio received itese feedback o the Jue 10 maps. Q2 preseted a ew set of cogressioal districts o July 1. The ew West Los Ageles Dowtow district was ow much more compact ad orieted toward the Westside. The district ow icluded Sata Moica, Maria del Rey, ad Del Rey from the Palos Verdes district, all middle-class white commuities. It combied most of the Culver City Creshaw district, icludig Culver City, Baldwi Hills, Creshaw, ad Mid-City, without dowtow eighborhoods. The desely populated eighborhoods close to Dowtow Los Ageles, icludig Hollywood, Koreatow, ad Pico-Uio, were removed. This revisio did a better job tha the earlier versio of reflectig the east-west social ad ecoomic divide i Los Ageles. To the south, the Iglewood South Gate district was recofigured i order to keep the airport ad airport-adjacet commuities itact, groupig may of the South Bay cities together ad keepig Torrace MAP 3: Wester LA Couty CDs Jue 10 Maps Leged Sata Moica Culver City Creshaw Palos Verdes Beach Citiest West Los Ageles Dowtow Iglewood South LA Hawthore Gardea Compto Beverly Hills Culver City Westchester LAX Beach Cities Baldwi Hills Iglewood Hawthore Torrace Gardea Palos Verdes Peisula mostly itact. The beach cities were coected with the Palos Verdes Peisula, both ports, Wilmigto, ad most of Log Beach. Q2 preseted aother set of revised maps to the commissio o July 9. The Iglewood-based district was agai completely revised. The Baldwi Hills Creshaw ad adjacet South Los Ageles districts were added ad most of Gardea ad Torrace, commuities with small Africa America populatios, were removed. This reflected two directios from July 1: to keep the airport commuities together ad to coect Iglewood with the Baldwi Hills area. The airport commuities (e.g. Westchester, El Segudo, ad Hawthore) represeted a ecoomic ad political COI. The airport is a source of jobs, as well as a focus of eighborhood cocers regardig airport expasio ad oise. Iglewood ad Baldwi Hills are a example of a cultural COI, with sigificat Africa America populatios. The July 14 maps retured to the cocept of two iterior districts to the east of the coastal district, as Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 49

55 CHAPTER 5 Mappig preseted i the Jue 30 maps. The Culver City Creshaw district icluded most of Westside Los Ageles, Mid-City, ad the South Los Ageles eighborhoods surroudig Baldwi Hills. A Iglewood-Torrace district was based o the Iglewood South Gate ( July 1) district, icludig Iglewood, Hawthore, Gardea, Torrace, ad adjacet cities ad commuities. This established the basis for the three Westside South Bay cogressioal districts. Differeces withi the commissio o South Los Ageles came to a head at a dramatic July 24 meetig, whe the cocept of three coastal districts was back o the table (see Map 4). I this iteratio, the orther district comprised Westside Los Ageles, Sata Moica, ad Malibu. The cetral district would iclude the airport, Culver City, Iglewood, ad most of South Los Ageles. The souther district would cover the South Bay cities. The divisios of the Westside ad South Bay were removed. The Westside Los Ageles eighborhoods were uited with Sata Moica, Veice, ad Malibu. Torrace stayed whole, ad the South Bay cities were combied i oe district. This decisio reflected testimoy from South Bay cities hopig to be uited i oe district. The proposal met with strog oppositio from the Africa America commuity. Some commissioers argued that the South Bay district combied very differet COIs higher-icome eighborhoods alog the coast ad lower-icome, workig-class eighborhoods i the iterior. Furthermore, Africa Americas would be packed ito oe cetral district, i which they represeted 51 percet of the CVAP, though Africa Americas had previously had success electig cadidates of their choice i less cocetrated districts. Commissioers Adre Parveu ad Coie Galambos Malloy stated that they would vote agaist ay map icludig this optio; because they were ot aliged with either party, their oppositio would essetially block fial approval. 8 A majority of the commissioers shared their cocers, ad they decided to keep the log coastal district ad two iterior districts i the southwest regio of Los Ageles Couty. I the fial map (see Map 5) the opportuity for 8 With four members, the oaliged members had to geerate three votes for a majority. MAP 4: Wester LA Couty CDs July 24 Optio Leged Sata Moica South Bay district Culver City Iglewood Westchester district Sata Moica West LA district Beverly Hills Culver City Westchester LAX Beach Cities Africa Americas to cotiue to ifluece three cogressioal districts was preserved. 9 The black commuity wated to maitai three districts i which they were a sigificat miority. Their cocers were satisfied by the fial maps, which created oe coastal district ad three iterior districts where Africa-Americas were a sigificat miority The Maps ad the Criteria Baldwi Hills Iglewood Hawthore Torrace Gardea Palos Verdes Peisula This examiatio of the mappig process foud that the commissio was ultimately successful i attemptig to meet the six costitutioal criteria for redistrictig. The mai weakess of the process was that i determiig COIs, the commissio relied exclusively o 9 Although all three Africa America members of Cogress ra for reelectio uder the ew lies, oly two of the three (Maxie Waters ad Kare Bass) were reelected, while Laura Richardso was defeated by Jaice Hah. 50 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

56 CHAPTER 5 Mappig public testimoy, rather tha supplemetig that subjective data with other types of data ot derived from public iput. Populatio Equality (Criterio #1) Util the Supreme Court iterveed i the 1960s, cogressioal districts were draw without regard for populatio disparity. At oe time, the vote of oe Califoria was worth as much as 422 times the vote of aother. 10 A series of court cases begiig i 1962 brought a ed to this practice ad gradually moved the atio toward oe perso, oe vote districtig. Although the Supreme Court has avoided defiig oe perso, oe vote i a way that imposes too exactig a mathematical stadard, equal-populatio districts are ow regarded as a costitutioal madate. 11 States have bee grated somewhat more latitude tha the federal govermet i drawig assembly ad seate districts ad are oly required to show substatial equality of populatio. 12 The redistrictig software, Maptitude for Redistrictig, facilitates the creatio of districts with equal or early equal populatios. The software allowed mappers to adjust district boudaries to meet the populatioequality requiremet. However, ay chage made to oe district affects surroudig districts. This required sometimes complex ad time-cosumig rotatios of populatio betwee districts to achieve populatio equality i all districts. 10 Levitt, Citize s Guide to Redistrictig. 11 See Reyolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 577 (1964) ( the Equal Protectio Clause requires that a State make a hoest ad good faith effort to costruct districts, i both houses of its legislature, as early of equal populatio as is practicable. We realize that it is a practical impossibility to arrage legislative districts so that each oe has a idetical umber of residets, or citizes, or voters. Mathematical exactess or precisio is hardly a workable costitutioal requiremet ); ad Brow v. Thomso, 462 U.S. 835, 842 (1983) ( We have recogized that some deviatios from populatio equality may be ecessary to permit the States to pursue other legitimate objectives such as maitai[ig] the itegrity of various political subdivisios ad provid[ig] for compact districts of cotiguous territory. ). 12 Reyolds, 377 U.S., at 579 ( So log as the divergeces from a strict populatio stadard are based o legitimate cosideratios icidet to the effectuatio of a ratioal state policy, some deviatios from the equal-populatio priciple are costitutioally permissible with respect to the apportiomet of seats i either or both of the two houses of a bicameral state legislature. ). MAP 5: Wester LA Couty CDs Fial Maps Leged Sata Moica CD 43: Iglewood Torrace CD 37: Culver City Creshaw CD 33: Sata Moica Moutais South Bay The commissio s decisios about populatio deviatio shifted over time, as idicated i chapter 6. Noetheless, for the fial maps, the commissio directed Q2 to draw districts with a total deviatio from the ideal populatio of less tha 1 percet. I the adopted commissio maps, the average deviatio of assembly districts was 0.51 percet, ad the average deviatio of seate districts was 0.45 percet. 13 The VRA ad Miority Represetatio (Criterio #2) A evaluatio of the VRA process as it applied to the commissio s work appears i chapter 6. Geographic Cotiguity (Criterio #3) This straightforward criterio meets the basic defiitio of a formal regio as a bouded territory created for a specific purpose. All of the districts are geographically cotiguous. 13 CRC Fial Report, p. 11. Beverly Hills Culver City Westchester LAX Beach Cities Baldwi Hills Iglewood Hawthore Torrace Gardea Palos Verdes Peisula Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 51

57 CHAPTER 5 Mappig Geographic Itegrity of Commuities of Iterest (part of Criterio #4) The most challegig aspect of the redistrictig process was the COI criterio. No agreed-upo defiitio exists for Commuities of Iterest (COIs), ad the commissioers had to create their ow framework. Much of the commissio s effort focused o gatherig public testimoy to idetify COIs. Propositio 20 defied a COI as: a cotiguous populatio which shares commo social ad ecoomic iterests that should be icluded withi a sigle district for purposes of effective ad fair represetatio. 14 By this defiitio, a COI is geographically cotiguous. 15 This precludes cosideratio of ogeographic commuities (wome, for example) ad of relatioships with political parties, icumbets, or political cadidates. 16 The commuity is uified by shared social ad ecoomic iterests, examples of which are those commo to areas i which the people share similar livig stadards, use the same trasportatio facilities, have similar work opportuities, or have access to the same media of commuicatio relevat to the electio process. 17 Such iterests ca be determied, i part, by usig social ad ecoomic data. Shared livig stadards ca be captured by icome data, ad similar work opportuities ca be idetified with data o educatio, icome, ad occupatio. These data ca supplemet the collectio of public iput to idetify commuities. The commissio used a flexible cocept of a geographic commuity i a umber of cases to support the creatio of a district. For example, the log coastal districts i Norther Califoria (Assembly District 14 Cal. Cost. art. XXI, 2, subd. (d)(4) (emphasis added). 15 I fact, the Califoria Supreme Court has used the phrase together with geographical itegrity : ad respect for geographical itegrity ad commuity of iterests. Compactess does ot refer to geometric shapes but to the ability of citizes to relate to each other ad their represetatives. [I]t speaks to relatioships that are facilitated by shared iterests ad by membership i a political commuity, icludig a couty or city. Wilso v. Eu, 1 Cal. 4th 707, 719 (Cal. 1992). The court suggests ot that the terms are iterchageable but rather that they are iextricably liked, with commuity of iterest addig a fuctioal compoet to compactess ; Wilso,1 Cal. 4th 707, at Cal. Cost. art. XXI, 2, subd. (d)(4). 17 Ibid. 2, Seate District 2, ad Cogressioal District 2), ad the log moutai districts i the Sierra Nevada (Assembly District 5, Seate District 8, ad Cogressioal District 4) were each based o the cocept of a commo commuity or regioal culture related to the atural eviromet. The wie coutry of Napa ad Sooma couties was also recogized as a regioal commuity. The commissio broke ew groud by defiig LGBT commuities, if geographically coheret, as a commuity of iterest. The populatio-equality requiremet made city ad couty splits ievitable. All cities with populatios larger tha the required district populatio had to be split, some amog several districts. The commissio tried to miimize splits ad documeted those splits it implemeted. Whe available, the commissio relied o eighborhood boudary lies provided by local govermets or orgaizatios. 18 For example, iety-five eighborhood coucils across the city of Los Ageles maitai established boudaries that were used i drawig districts. 19 I Sa Fracisco, the commissio used boudaries provided by the Coucil of Asia Pacific Americas for Fair Represetatio (CAPAFR). The split of the city of Fremot used South Bay Coalitio lies. However, most cities do ot have such divisios, either formal or iformal. The commissio worked hard to defie COIs through various forms of public iput, icludig public hearigs. Although this process provided vital iformatio for the commissio, the subjective data could, i the ext iteratio, be supplemeted with other types of data. Commissioer Jeae Raya oted that some data beyod the public hearigs would have bee very helpful. Commissioer Michael Ward commeted: I had expected to apply objective criteria, ad the use COI testimoy. However, there was little time ad few resources available to develop such data, ad producig it i the middle of the deliberatios might have derailed the process. I the Jauary 28, 2011, meetig, Q2 s Kari Mac Doald oted that Govermet Code 8253 (7) required the commissio to receive public iput before drawig ay maps. I the March 24 meetig, 18 I some cases, the official eighborhood boudaries are disputed or i coflict. 19 See accessed August 25, League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

58 CHAPTER 5 Mappig the commissioers heard a presetatio o VRA ad COI issues by Aa Hederso of the UC Berkeley Warre Istitute of Law ad Social Policy. I discussig COIs, Hederso told the commissio that the best source of iformatio about commuity of iterest is people who live i ad work with commuities. This is the criterio where the commissio most eeds to hear from the public. 20 For future commissios, with more time to pla i advace, additioal data might reduce some of the burde of aalyzig public testimoy. For example, the America Commuity Survey of the U.S. Cesus provides estimates of social ad ecoomic iformatio. Commissioer Vicet Barabba, former head of the U.S. Cesus, oted that though such data would be prelimiary, it could allow the commissio to begi draftig geographic parameters for future mappig. Although these data portray broader areas tha the block level ecessary for actual mappig, they ca be useful as a foudatio. If past practice is cotiued, data gathered mid- ad late decade will be useful to the commissio. Three- ad five-year cesus data are based o rollig samples ad cover broader areas tha ecessary for mappig, which could allow the commissio to begi provisioal draftig before the full cesus data is available (see sidebar). Additioal data would also allow the commissio to avoid the appearace or reality of beig maipulated by elected officials ad cadidates, who might well sed surrogates to make a case for commuities of iterest that mask a political ageda. Determiatio of COIs ultimately required judgmet calls by the commissio. For example, the city of Davis is a uiversity tow located west of Sacrameto. The Jue 10 maps placed Davis i the same area as Sacrameto, based o perceptios of commo iterest. Members of the Davis commuity protested that they preferred to be icluded with surroudig areas other tha Sacrameto. Commissioer Forbes, a commuity leader i Davis, said that he favored the coectio to Sacrameto but that he ad the commissio deferred to what they perceived to be commuity setimet. Although there was sigificat testimoy 20 Commissio meetig, March 24, 2011, trascript. Data Sources Available to the Commissio: U.S. Cesus (ACS) 3-year Data Released i the October followig the ed of every 3-year period. (e.g., data for is released i October 2020) 5-year Data Released i the December followig the ed of every 5-year period. (e.g., data for is released i December 2020) by local elected officials i Davis i support of keepig Davis ad Sacrameto separate, icumbet members of the assembly ad seate also had a direct stake i the outcome. The Jue 10 maps would have placed three Democratic members of the assembly i the same district. The result was a victory both for local elected officials ad commuity activists ad for the legislators ad their supporters who feared a major restructurig of their Sacrameto- ad Davis-based districts. 21 Geographic Compactess (Criterio #5) Accordig to article XXI of the Califoria Costitutio, electoral districts eed to ecourage geographical compactess ad ot bypass earby populatios for populatios further away, as log as this does ot coflict with higher-level criteria. 22 Ay districts that are ot compact eed to be justified based o the higherlevel criteria. I their September 16, 2011, submissio to the Supreme Court of Califoria defedig the commissio s redistrictig pla, the commissio s attoreys argued that courts ad states have rejected a purely geometric coceptio of compactess. 23 Districts are 21 Jim Saders, Davis-Sacrameto Marriage Is Off i New Political Maps, Modesto Bee, July 14, Accessed olie March 10, 2013, 22 Cal. Cost. art. XXI, 2, subd. (d)(5). 23 From the Cosolidated Prelimiary Oppositio to Petitios for Writ of Madamus or Prohibitio, p. 44, Vadermost v. Bowe, 53 Cal. 4th 421 (Cal. 2012), quotig Wilso, 1 Cal. 4th 707, at 719 (here, the court is quotig ad edorsig the ratioale of the special masters, as captured i their comprehesive Report ad Recommedatios, set forth i appedix 1 to the opiio). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 53

59 CHAPTER 5 Mappig cosidered compact if they are fuctioally itegrated ad residets have shared iterests. Although compactess is a lower-priority criterio, together with cotiguity it is the most visual characteristic of a district. At a glace, districts that do ot appear compact raise suspicios of gerrymaderig the creatio of spatially cotiguous but utterly covoluted districts for political purposes. As a result, the commissio hoped to create compact districts to the extet feasible. Commissioers would ofte refer to the eye test whe reviewig draft districts ad make sure that ay oddly shaped districts could be justified based o the higher-level criteria. The eye test may be commo, ad appealig to commissioers, but it does ot fulfill the requiremets of the state costitutio. The costitutioal test depeds o where people actually live. Ofte, city boudaries meader, ad cities look like gerrymaders themselves; districts that follow city lies may, for example, have arms that stick out or other strage features. City boudaries meader ad cities look like gerrymaders themselves. For example, the followig cogressioal districts are elogated: CD 2 (North Coast), CD 4 (Sierra Nevada), CD 8 (Easter Sierra ad Sa Berardio Couty), CD 21 (Kigs Couty), ad CD 33 (Coastal Los Ageles). I most of these districts, the elogated shape reflects a COI: the coastal commuities of Norther Califoria (CD2), the Sierra Nevada ad Tahoe Basi (CD 4), the Sata Moica Moutais ad coastal commuities of metropolita Los Ageles (CD 33), ad the sparsely populated desert ad basi commuities i Iyo, Moo, ad Sa Berardio couties (CD 8). The Ker curl draw i each district icorporatig Kigs Couty was ecessary i order to capture populatio i Bakersfield ad maitai the bechmark miority votig populatios i ay Kigs Couty district, as required by VRA Sectio 5. Nestig (Criterio #6) The Califoria Costitutio states that to the extet possible, the eighty assembly districts should be ested i the forty seate districts, which i tur should be ested i the four Board of Equalizatio districts. Nestig is the lowest-order criterio for a good reaso: it is very difficult to combie districts without violatig higher-order criteria based o the VRA, respectig city ad couty boudaries, ad represetig COIs. At the Jue 1 meetig, Q2 illustrated this dilemma for the commissio by presetig a perfectly ested seate district map, based o the draft assembly districts. Q2 poited out that the Sectio 5 districts (those icludig Kigs, Merced, Moterey, ad Yuba couties) could ot be perfectly ested without ruig afoul of the VRA requiremet to maitai miority votig stregth. However, i each case two assembly districts could be ested, after which the boudaries could be adjusted to meet Sectio 5 requiremets. The same procedure was used for Sectio 2 districts, where the commissio wated to maitai ethic votig stregth. Q2 described the procedure as bledig estig two assembly districts, the adjustig the boudaries to better satisfy the higher-order criteria, thus creatig partially ested districts. Of course, drawig a bleded district forced each surroudig district to be bleded as well, greatly reducig the umber of seate districts that could be created from the perfect estig of two assembly districts. The ed result largely, though icompletely, satisfied the estig criterio. Although oly three seate districts were created by the complete estig of two assembly districts, all forty seate districts were betwee 65- ad 100-percet ested. 24 Coclusios The mappig process was compressed ito a tight four-moth timeframe. Had the mappig team bee hired i Jauary, they would have had at least two more moths to collect public testimoy ad supplemetal data i preparatio for the map drawig, which bega 24 CRC Fial Report, p League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

60 CHAPTER 5 Mappig i March with the release of cesus data. 25 I the ext redistrictig process, the mappig team ad VRA cousel should be hired earlier. Better yet, the liedrawig cosultats could be hired i 2020, allowig ample time for the collectio ad evaluatio of social ad ecoomic data, the collectio of public testimoy, ad the drawig of draft maps. The sheer volume of COI testimoy made it difficult to determie its validity, catalogue it, ad prioritize its use i the redistrictig process. Public testimoy should be gathered ad collated i a more effective way. The commissio eeds to develop a systematic method for idetifyig the specific COI testimoy relied upo i the creatio of each district. I additio, before the commissio covees, demographic ad geographic data should be collected to supplemet public hearigs for the purpose of assessig COIs. Such materials, icludig iformatio about idustry ad commerce, ad urbaizatio ad suburbaizatio, are available before the release of the full cesus. Prior to the mappig process, the commissio should collect a systematic series of data sets ad maps for key socioecoomic variables for the populatio, icludig educatioal attaimet, icome, idustry, ad occupatio. These could be based o the five-year America Commuity Survey samples coducted prior to the deceial cesus (e.g., ), although cesus data ca be used as they are made available. Spatial statistics ca be used to idetify areas based o differet socioecoomic characteristics (e.g., icome, educatio, idustry, etc.). This data would complemet public testimoy gathered for the idetificatio of COIs. Also, iformatio should be collected from local ad regioal agecies (e.g., plaig, water, eergy) to support the determiatio of commuities with shared iterests. Other boudary files are useful for the mappig process. These iclude eighborhood boudaries (such as the eighborhood-coucil borders i the city of Los Ageles), service districts, watersheds, coucils of govermet, ad so o. Before the mappig process begis, the commissio ad its mappig team should collect these supplemetary boudary files to assist i determiig the eed for city ad couty splits. The selectio of the mappig cosultat ad the relatioship betwee the commissio ad the mappig team are critical to the success of the redistrictig process. I 2011, the commissio hired a experieced ad resposive team. Q2 followed commissio directios to draw ad revise maps. They were skilled i usig the redistrictig software, creatig districts based o the parameters give by the commissio, presetig optios to the commissio, ad outliig possible impacts of a give chage o adjacet districts. Q2 s associated staff members also spet a great deal of time ad eergy staffig public iput hearigs, summarizig public iput, ad creatig a database of public testimoy. Q2 s four mappers were stretched to their limits i Jue ad July, puttig i log hours at ight ad over the weekeds. Although this is part ad parcel of the itese, compressed redistrictig process, a better-fuded mappig team could employ oe or two additioal mappers to spread the workload. I additio, a separate cosultig team should be resposible for collectig ad orgaizig public iput. Some commissioers preferred to see a map showig the chages made i a revised district, istead of comparig two sets of maps. With more resources, the mappig team could devote staff to preparig map revisios showig the chages made betwee drafts. It would be helpful to create reports for each subregio or couty (e.g., southwest Los Ageles Couty or Orage Couty), showig the series of district maps created through successive revisios ad documetig the specific reasos why a give district was built or revised. Though large umbers of maps would tax eve a larger lie-drawig team, a techical report for each district outliig desig priciples, decisios, public iput, ad revisios would be helpful. 25 Pub. L , 89 Stat (1975) (codified as ameded at 13 U.S.C. 141[c]). Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 55

61 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 6 The Votig Rights Act Compliace with the federal Votig Rights Act (VRA) was oe of the commissio s highest costitutioal obligatios, ad delayed VRA traiig for commissioers placed them at a disadvatage. Despite these obstacles, the commissio ultimately followed a process that respected the VRA. At times there was a lack of clarity about whether to use votigage populatio or citize votig-age populatio. With greater access to a broader rage of data at a earlier stage, the ext commissio should be able to cotiue to respod effectively to the VRA. 56 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

62 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act The Federal Votig Rights Act The ladmark 1965 federal Votig Rights Act is a powerful defese agaist tactics that effectively disefrachise miority groups. Drawig from the laguage of the Fifteeth Amedmet, the VRA prohibits all states ad political subdivisios from applyig ay votig qualificatio or prerequisite to votig or stadard, practice, or procedure i a maer which results i a deial or abridgemet of the right of ay citize of the Uited States to vote o accout of race or color. 1 Uder the VRA, a violatio is established if, based o the totality of circumstaces, it is show that the political processes leadig to omiatio or electio i the State or political subdivisio are ot equally ope to participatio by members of a protected class. Liability exists uder the VRA whe the members of a protected class have less opportuity tha other members of the electorate to participate i the political process ad to elect represetatives of their choice. The VRA protects opportuities for racial ad laguage miorities to achieve equitable political power where coditios would otherwise threate that ability. Two provisios of the VRA are relevat to redistrictig: Sectios 2 ad 5. The U.S. Supreme Court set out the stadard for the evaluatio of Sectio 2 claims i Thorburg v. Gigles. 2 Uder the Gigles test, a violatio of the VRA will oly be foud if (1) the votig-eligible miority group is sufficietly large to costitute more tha half of the umber required for a appropriately sized district; (2) the miority group is sufficietly geographically compact that it would aturally fall withi a sigle district; (3) the miority group is politically cohesive, such that its iterests are uited ad distictive; ad (4) racially polarized bloc votig demostrably impedes the miority group s abil- 1 Votig Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C (1965) (Pub. L , Aug. 6, 1965, 79 Stat. 437). Califoria also has its ow state Votig Rights Act (CVRA), passed i 2002, which provides additioal protectio for miority groups whose votes are effectively diluted through the political process but who are too geographically dispersed to fall uder the protectio of the federal VRA. The CVRA applies specifically to at-large (local) electios, ad, for that reaso, it was ot a cosideratio i the commissio s redistrictig process. Cal. Elec. Code Thorburg v. Gigles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986); see also Bartlett v. Stricklad, 556 U.S. 1 (2009). ity to have their preferred cadidate prevail. Oce these threshold factors are met, the court will the evaluate the totality of circumstaces surroudig the claim. Here, the court will cosider everythig from the racial cotet of political campaigs to the miority group s particular history of facig official discrimiatio. 3 Sectio 5 of the VRA provides special protectio for certai covered jurisdictios. Covered jurisdictios were idetified i the period betwee 1964 ad 1972, based o a specific formula that took ito accout the use of votig test[s] or device[s], alog with voter registratio ad participatio, as a percetage of the votig-age populatio (VAP). 4 Some states are covered i their etirety uder Sectio 5. 5 At the time of the Califoria redistrictig, four Califoria couties were covered uder Sectio 5: Kigs, Merced, Moterey, ad Yuba. 6 I three of the four Sectio 5 couties i Califoria, their iclusio has to do with a historical circumstace: the presece of military bases that distorted the miority compositio of the votig populatio. 7 I those covered jurisdictios, a state may ot implemet ay votig-related chage without first obtaiig either judicial or admiistrative approval of the chage, to esure that it does ot have the purpose or effect of deyig or abridgig the right to vote o accout of race, color, or laguage miority. 8 A Sectio 5 aalysis ivolves a determiatio of whether the 3 Gigles, 478 U.S., at 36 (these additioal factors were adopted by the court from the Seate Judiciary Committee Report o the 1982 amedmets to the Votig Rights Act ad are kow as the Seate Factors ; S. Rep. No , 97th Cog. (1982). 4 U.S. Departmet of Justice, accessed September 2, 2012, justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_5/about.php. 5 Covered states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizoa, Georgia, Louisiaa, Mississippi, South Carolia, Texas, ad Virgiia. As a covered state, the etire Arizoa redistrictig process had to be evaluated uder Sectio 5. 6 Moterey ad Yuba couties have bee covered sice 1968; Kigs ad Merced couties have bee icluded sice 1972; U.S. Departmet of Justice, accessed September 2, 2012, vot/sec_5/covered.php. As of July 31, 2012, after years of litigatio ad campaigig, Merced is o loger uder Sectio 5 scrutiy; see Capitol Alert, Sacrameto Bee, July 31, 2012, capitolalertlatest/2012/07/merced-couty-released-from-votigrights-act-scrutiy.html. 7 The largely miority military populatio i these couties was icluded i the cesus ad therefore i the VAP, eve though they typically register ad vote i their home states. 8 Vadermost, 53 Cal. 4th 421, at 479. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 57

63 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act proposed chage will lead to a retrogressio i the [existig] positio of racial [or laguage] miorities with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral frachise. 9 Sectio 5 holds up a jurisdictio s existig pla as a bechmark, agaist which ay proposed chage must be measured. The authority for Sectio 5 clearace is vested primarily i the U.S. Departmet of Justice. 10 Compliace with Sectios 2 ad 5 requires careful attetio to both miority demographics ad political data. Redistrictig i light of the VRA has bee challeged i court, with oppoets arguig that the practice of drawig district lies with race as the predomiat cosideratio violates the equal protectio clause of the Fourteeth Amedmet. 11 However, the Supreme Court has cosistetly rejected that argumet, holdig that where the state is able to provide strog evidece that the Gigles coditios exist, the state has sufficietly compellig reaso to allow racial cosideratios to predomiate i the drawig of district lies as log as they do so o more tha is reasoably ecessary to comply with the VRA. 12 The court s iterpretatio is cosistet with the VRA s fudametal purpose: rectifyig electoral practices ad procedures that result i the deial or abridgemet of the right of ay citize to vote o accout of race or color Vadermost, 53 Cal. 4th 421, at Or i a three-judge court of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 11 See Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952 (1996). 12 Vera, 517 U.S., at Votig Rights Act of Compliace with Sectios 2 ad 5 requires careful attetio to both miority demographics ad political data. This preseted a real challege to the commissioers, who chose to iterpret their madate to either favor or discrimiate o political grouds to keep them blid to the political cosequeces of map drawig. The VRA required the commissio to cosider whether racial polarizatio i votig created coditios that affected the ability of miority groups to elect members of their choice to office. I other words, the commissioers igored political data i the case of icumbets or political parties, but at the same time were required by the VRA to have at least some uderstadig of how votig behavior restricts opportuities for miority ifluece. The Commissio ad Its Process The commissio cosisted of idividuals with the ability to egotiate these straits carefully. Commissioers were professioally accomplished, educated, ad thoughtful; several had particularly relevat experiece, icludig backgrouds i the social scieces ad i city, commuity, ad regioal plaig. The commissioers evaluated ad retaied legal cousel ad mappig cosultats with substatial expertise but did ot defer blidly to them. Meetig trascripts idicate that the commissioers carefully probed the issues relevat to VRA compliace. Commissioers received ad gave cosideratio to votig-rights groups, some of which received fudig from The James Irvie Foudatio (a example beig the Asia Pacific America Legal Ceter). Commissioers offered sophisticated pushback to the advice of cousel ad cosultats, testig ot oly the defiitios of terms ad the reliability of data but also the degree of ambiguity iheret i the law ad the extet to which their cosultats advice revealed prefereces but ot requiremets. At times, discussio betwee VRA cousel ad some commissioers became charged. Accordig to Commissioer Maria Blaco, some commissioers disagreed strogly with the early advice give by their VRA cousel, feelig that it relied too heavily o the lesser criterio of compactess. 58 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

64 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act Traiig ad Data Delays Eve with their level of experiece ad educatio, the commissio would have beefited from earlier traiig i the uaces of the VRA, which would have leveled the field betwee those commissioers who kew the VRA well ad those who did ot. The eed for such traiig was recogized early o but was log deferred. The first group of eight commissioers received some VRA traiig, ad the ext six members were ecouraged to view the video record of the traiig. The first meaigful traiig for the full commissio occurred o March 24. The traiig reviewed the relevat legal requiremets, as the commissio requested, but did ot suggest how the commissio should structure its work so as to esure compliace either the data the commissio should seek or the process it should pursue. The first hits of such advice had to wait util April 28, more tha a moth later. Several factors appeared to delay ay detailed traiig. The commissio tetatively scheduled a iitial traiig sessio for February 25, but the preseter was uavailable. The pla to delegate the traiig to VRA cousel meat that the time required to hire cousel delayed traiig as well. Ultimately, the commissio had to wait util late April to get its first formal istructio o how it should go about esurig VRA compliace. Perhaps ot surprisigly, the Jue 10 maps were criticized for iadequate attetio to the VRA. The commissio also ra ito delays i acquirig related data. Estimated demographic data from the cesus were available i late 2010 ad early 2011; though ot perfect, this data would have allowed the commissio to focus i a prelimiary way o areas of particular cocer ad thus would have allowed them to start their work earlier. Polarized votig aalysis refers to studies of the impact of group votig patters o the opportuities for miority commuities to elect cadidates of their choice. Such research is vital to esurig that district maps comply with the VRA. Electio data particularly local votig patters by race ad ethicity, gleaed from careful statistical aalysis of precict-by-precict electio results over multiple cycles are required to assess VRA compliace. Without uderstadig local votig patters, it is very difficult to tell whether miority commuities practical ability to elect cadidates of choice has bee impaired for VRA purposes. Without such iformatio, it is equally difficult to tell whether ew district lies preserve or restore such opportuity. The cesus does ot provide this iformatio, ad the Statewide Database, which otherwise served as Califoria s cetral repository of redistrictig iformatio, collected oly portios of the required iformatio. 14 Polarized votig aalysis was ot obtaied util very late i the process. The commissioers uderstood that they should begi gatherig polarized votig data from day oe. Yet the cotractig process for a cosultat to collect ad aalyze this data bega oly o April 27. The cosultat bega work by Jue 16, eve before the cotract was completely fialized, but this was still a exceptioally late start. Not util Jue 24 did the commissio start gettig hits of the results of the aalysis; the results i Los Ageles ecessarily icomplete due to the rush of time were ot formalized util July 13, at which poit just sixtee days remaied i the map-drawig process, makig it exceedigly difficult to chage course if ecessary or to test the ear-fial drafts to esure that they complied with the VRA. Eve if the commissio had cotracted immediately for this research, extedig it to the full statewide rage would have bee difficult due to time ad fudig limitatios. The absece of this data created difficulties i esurig compliace with the VRA. Drawig districts where race or ethicity outweighs all other cosideratios is costitutioal oly as log as doig so is reasoably ecessary to achieve VRA compliace. I order to precisely assess potetial VRA liability, the commissio eeded votig data, such as historical miority support for preferred cadidates i various regios of the state ad the extet to which majority prefereces regularly coalesced agaist those cadidates. Similarly, votig data are essetial to a accurate determiatio of whether the proposed ew districts would effectively restore miority ifluece to VRA- 14 The Statewide Database collected some statewide votig data for use i polarizatio studies but lacked the most critical iformatio amely, data from legislative primaries (which is most useful i a state like Califoria with polarized partisa pockets) ad data from local electios. More importat, the database was ot equipped to aalyze the raw data to assess the degree of racial polarizatio. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 59

65 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act NOTEWorthY 2% The commissio evetually approved a stadard permittig a total deviatio of o more tha 2%. compliat coditios. I the absece of this data, the commissioers did what they could. For example, they bega i the right place by askig their mappig cosultat to begi i couties covered by Sectio 5 of the VRA, with istructios to provide summaries of available optios. The commissioers the asked the cosultat to idetify sizable ad geographically compact miority groups that could potetially implicate Sectio 2 of the VRA. Without the data to accurately assess the VRA factors, the commissio attempted to draw districts i pockets with large miority populatios aroud oracial criteria, ackowledgig race ad ethicity but ot allowig either to drive the district boudaries. Whe such districts actually provide miority commuities with a effective opportuity to elect cadidates of choice, there is o cocer with such a practice. But whe such districts do ot do so, ad votig patters implicate the VRA, compliace requires a adjustmet. To be clear, these serious process difficulties do ot mea that the commissio produced ocompliat fial maps. I geeral, the commissioers recogized, quite early, that drafts would chage substatially with better data, ad they strove to accommodate chages that were recogized as ecessary; but the process was made uecessarily difficult by the delay i receivig the data. The commissio attempted to substitute public iput from local commuities for data that had ot yet arrived. The commissio carefully cosidered local testimoy, for example, cocerig the electoral success of the Africa America commuity i Los Ageles ad the fuctioal compactess of the Latio commuity i Aaheim ad Sata Aa. However, whe the relevat data fially started to come i ad VRA liability became apparet, data proxies were appropriately discarded. The commissio also struggled with how to use the data it did receive. I determiig whether districts actually provided miority commuities with effective exercise of the electoral frachise, the commissio at times focused, based i part o cousel s advice, o the demographics of the votig-age populatio. Demographics reveal how may adults ca be foud i the district but without attetio to citizeship (especially i a state like Califoria, with may ocitizes) may give a limited view of the political potetial of represetatio. I cotrast, the Departmet of Justice, i its guide to redistrictig uder the VRA, stresses registratio rates ad turout. 15 Such electoral factors would have bee especially helpful i illumiatig VRA liability i those districts i which miority commuities were teeterig at the threshold of 50 percet of the district s Citize Votig Age Populatio (CVAP). 16 I order to esure compliace with the VRA, future commissios must focus o esurig effective exercise of the frachise by miority populatios. This requires a emphasis o eligible citizes (Citize Votig Age Populatio) rather tha merely votig-age populatio (VAP). The commissio will require aalysis of polarizatio, registratio rates, ad past turout i order to gauge whether particular districts actually afford a pragmatic opportuity or ability to elect cadidates of choice. Fially, the issue of populatio disparity was kotty. Electoral districts must be equal i populatio. Ad yet some disparity from perfect equality is ievitable. As described above, the Supreme Court has held that states have somewhat more flexibility i drawig 15 Departmet of Justice, Guidace Cocerig Redistrictig uder Sectio 5 of the Votig Rights Act, 76 FR (2011) (although the specific focus of this guide is o Sectio 5 compliace, the aalysis is also helpful for Sectio 2 purposes). 16 By the same toke, it is possible that past votig data would idicate that districts below the 50-percet threshold do offer a meaigful opportuity to elect cadidates of choice. The poit is ot that the resultig districts did ot comply with the VRA but rather that the commissio could ot be sure whether they complied or ot. 60 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

66 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act assembly ad seate districts ad are oly required to show substatial equality of populatio compared to the requiremets for drawig cogressioal districts. Flexibility i how far districts ca deviate from perfect populatio equality meas ambiguity for those tasked with drawig the lies. The commissio struggled to adopt a cosistet stadard. VRA cousel first recommeded that districts deviate o more tha 2 percet, eve whe drawig for purposes of the VRA. 17 O the same day, the commissio left itself a more flexible stadard for prelimiary drafts: as little deviatio as possible, but up to ±5 percet deviatio from the ideal, with a explaatio of ay deviatio over 2 percet. O May 27, the commissio revised its stadards with respect to prelimiary drafts: as little deviatio as possible for the prelimiary drafts, up to a total of 5 percet deviatio. However, the same day, it adopted a much more restrictive stadard for the fial maps: o more tha 1 percet total deviatio, icludig districts draw for purposes of the VRA. O Jue 16, it asked Q2 to flag deviatios over 1 percet that would aid compliace with the VRA. But two weeks later, it rejected the attempt to effectuate ay deviatio over 1 percet total. Fially, o July 3, the commissio approved a stadard permittig a total deviatio of o more tha 2 percet, with greater deviatio permitted where required to comply with the VRA. May of the process cocers above come back to extreme time pressure. Techically, this fial stadard should i o way have impaired compliace with the VRA, because exceptios to the restrictive geeral stadard are expressly authorized where the VRA makes the exceptios ecessary. However, for the etire critical draftig 17 Commissio Meetig, April 28, 2011, trascript. period of Jue, the commissio operated uder a differet stadard: o more tha 1 percet total deviatio, VRA obligatio or ot. Commissioers commuicated this stadard firmly to the mappig cosultats. Ad despite the commissio s belated request to flag districts for which greater populatio deviatios would aid compliace with the VRA, it is ot clear that ay such deviatios were idetified. (It is, of course, possible that o such cofiguratios existed.) Coclusios The commissio s work begis with the commissioers. The commissioers were adept at techical ad legal aalysis ad were savvy cosumers of techical ad legal advice, with the will ad ability to push back whe appropriate. They also beefitted from havig several idividuals amog them with experiece ad expertise i applyig the VRA to redistrictig problems. Despite the problems associated with late traiig ad the lack of timely data, the commissio effectively pursued a process that gave appropriate attetio to the VRA. Although the courts are the ultimate arbiters regardig whether the fial maps were i legal compliace, the evidece of the commissio s work ad the lack of successful legal challeges suggests that the commissio was successful. The late arrival of electoral data, ad the limited aalysis of that data due to its late assembly, became sigificat impedimets. I additio to data presetly collected by the Statewide Database, a desigated orgaizatio or team should collect the data eeded for a full racially polarized votig aalysis well before the commissio assembles. At the very least, substatial portios of the data collectio ca be completed i the years before the commissio takes office. Because of its sigificat research potetial, this project might attract outside support from private foudatios ad other agecies that support demographic ad electoral study. May of the process cocers above come back to extreme time pressure. Some of that pressure ca be alleviated if a body prepares logistically for the commissio before it forms, so that commissioers eed ot build a agecy from the groud up oce they are appoited. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 61

67 CHAPTER 6 The Votig Rights Act There are also other meas to save time. A first effort to gather citize iput cocerig COIs ca be moved earlier i the process. Data ca be collected ad aalyzed earlier. Commissioers ca also begi drawig tetative districts eligible for VRA protectio earlier, usig estimated data released by the cesus for the prior year. As a result of the imprecisio of these estimates, districts built upo them will have to be revised; however, commissioers ca develop familiarity with the trickiest issues by usig prelimiary data to flesh out optios. Doig so carries the risk that commissioers will become attached to cofiguratios that will have to chage oce better data arrives. But with costat remiders about the tetative status of the iitial optios, this practice should help reveal difficulties that this commissio discovered oly belatedly, as well as tradeoffs that this commissio ever had the chace to cosider fully i the pressure of late July. VRA traiig was o this commissio s wish list for moths before it was carried out. Future commissios should esure that they receive such traiig much earlier. Moreover, future commissios should ask for a step-by-step recommedatio for how they should go about redistrictig, icludig icremetal data to be gathered, decisios to be made, ad the realistic duratio of each step alog the way. May groups aroud the state have experiece drawig legally compliat districts ad, of course, this commissio could ow itself produce a eormously helpful step-by-step guide. This commissio was wise to begi i areas with substatial miority populatios, out of cocer for VRA compliace. Ad it is reasoable to begi i those areas by testig to see whether race-eutral priciples provide political opportuity for miority groups as log as there is a firm, shared commitmet to override those race-eutral priciples if it becomes clear that the VRA requires such actio. Districts must be draw ad reviewed for VRA compliace early, before the formulatio of adjacet districts ad well before the release of ay districts as drafts to the public. Assumig o chage i the Califoria Costitutio, future commissios should adopt this commissio s fial approach to populatio disparity i regard to the VRA. That does ot mea adoptig the same fial deviatios i the districts produced; rather, it meas havig the same commitmet to lookig beyod ay artificial threshold i order to esure compliace with the VRA. Future commissios must be sure to carefully ivestigate deviatios beyod the orm, i order to make sure that a artificial threshold does ot foreclose aveues of compliace ot otherwise apparet i a uduly restrictive regime. 62 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

68 Photo Courtesy of CA Commo Cause Chapter 7 Timelie ad Budget The bulk of the redistrictig caledar ad a major share of the budget wet toward the selectio process. The recommedatios i this report suggest a differet timelie for the ext iteratio of citizes redistrictig. The process should begi earlier ad there should be cosiderably more attetio ad budget devoted to preparig the commissio for its task of deliberatio. Though the overall budget for the redistrictig was reasoable, adjustmets should be made to icrease resources for commissio outreach ad for preparatio of the commissio. Less moey ad time are eeded to recruit applicats for commissio positios. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 63

69 CHAPTER 7 Timelie ad Budget Timelie The commissio process devoted cosiderably more attetio to the selectio of commissioers tha to the preparatio ad deliberatios of the commissio. As a result, commissioers felt compelled to take a greater role i the operatios of the commissio tha they might otherwise have doe. The timelie for the first iteratio devoted the most caledar time to selectio of commissioers. The BSA bega its efforts o commissioer selectio i Jauary 2009, ad the first commissioers were seated i December The first te moths of that early two-year period ivolved the developmet of regulatios for the selectio process. The Secretary of State s office etered the picture i the sprig of 2010, but its public work i helpig the commissio get off the groud orgaizatioally occupied less tha two moths. The commissio s core deliberatios occupied eight moths, substatially less tha half the time spet o commissioer selectio. This report proposes a timelie for the ext commissio that reduces the time devoted to commissioer selectio, icreases the time allocated to commissio preparatio, allows for the collectio of data o COIs separate from public hearigs, ad exteds the commissio s deliberatio period. The ext commissio should have more time to do its work, 1 with the commissio i place at least five moths earlier i the process tha was the 2011 commissio. The proposed timelie divides the phases early evely ad allows more time for the commissio s deliberatios. Budget Priorities Propositio 11 required the state of Califoria to provide fuds for the citize redistrictig process sufficiet to meet the estimated expeses i implemetig the redistrictig process required by this act for a three-year period, icludig, but ot limited to, adequate fudig for a statewide outreach program to solicit broad public participatio i the redistrictig process. 1 This report cocurs with the commissio s recommedatio for a additioal six moths for its deliberatios, a extesio that the legislature shorteed to four ad a half moths. Eve the approved extesio will be a major help. Table 8: Proposed Timelie Breakdow for 2021 Redistrictig Process Moths Selectio of Commissioers 12 Preparatio of Commissio 13 Commissio Deliberatios* 13 Post-mappig Wid-dow 12 Totals 50 *From seatig of the commissio i August 2020 util completio of the fial maps i August Table 9. Budget for Redistrictig Process Declaratio of Cost Estimates by the Commissio* State Fudig $10,449,728 The James Irvie Foudatio 3,466,560** Compoets by Phase Percet of State Fudig Selectio of Commissioers 4,028, Trasitio Process to 125, Commissio Commissio Cost 2,966, (Deliberatio) Commissio Cost 3,329, (Post-deliberatio) Total State Fudig 10,449,728 Selected Commissio Cost Items Lie Drawers (Q2) 592,466 Legal Gibso Du & Crutcher 1,098,697 Morriso & Foerster 705,394 Meetig Costs 307,712 Commissioer 718,200 Compesatio Commissioer Travel 264,176 *See 012/hadouts_ _crc_fialcosts_draft.pdf, accessed August 25, **This amout icludes the grats listed i the report alog with two grats to UC Berkeley to prepare memorada to iform the commissio o VRA matters. This amout icludes litigatio costs. Percetages do ot add up to 100 percet due to roudig. Morriso & Foerster was brought i by the commissio to work with Gibso Du & Crutcher o the litigatio. 64 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

70 CHAPTER 7 Timelie ad Budget A Timelie for the Next Citizes Redistrictig Commissio i Califoria, * Desig of the Commissio (Start: Feb. 2019) Begi regulatio process Hold iterested-persos meetigs Preset draft regulatios Seek public commet o draft regulatios Revise ad adopt regulatios Coduct Departmet of Justice Sectio 5 preclearace of regulatios Begi outreach by commuity orgaizatios to uderrepreseted groups for participatio i the redistrictig process Select orgaizatio to prepare commissio deliberatio process Selectio of the Commissioers (Start: No later tha Aug. 15, 2019) Begi commissioer selectio process Work with cesus-cout committees to advertise opeigs; embed redistrictig message ito cesus outreach Submit Ivitatio for Public Biddig (IPB) from private resources (see sidebar i chapter 4) Begi meetig with orgaized groups to recruit applicats Idetify ad implemet strategies to reach uderrepreseted groups Coduct broad ad targeted outreach utilizig maistream ad ethic media as well as commuity orgaizatios Establish Applicat Review Pael Close applicatio period Publicize the ames i the applicat pool ad provide copies of their applicatios to the Applicat Review Pael (March 15, 2020) Coduct iitial screeig Accept secodary applicatios Applicat Review Pael presets its subpools of recommeded applicats to the Secretary of the Seate ad the Chief Clerk of the Assembly (by May 15, 2020) Coduct iterviews Hire staff for preparig commissio ad settig up office space, telephoe, website, ad accouts Select all commissioers by August 15, 2020 Seat full commissio *This proposed timelie fully icorporates the chages implemeted by SB 1096, siged ito law by Goveror Jerry Brow o September 7, 2012, A Act to Amed Sectios 8251, 8252, , 8253, ad of the Califoria Govermet Code, Relatig to Redistrictig, 2012 Statutes, Chapter 271. Preparatio of the Commissio, Part 1 (Start: Feb. 15, 2020) Plaig orgaizatio begis work Begi recruitig polarizatio scholars Iitiate study of racially polarized votig Backgroud research o staff ad cosultat eeds for commissio Adopt staff-hirig criteria Develop outreach pla ad hire outreach cosultat Iitiate objective study of COIs Coduct aalysis of cesus data, either by a agecy or cotractor (for COI purposes) Begi collectig demographic data (ACS survey results for 2018 are released i September 2019, ad results for are released i December 2019) Fid ad reserve meetig place for the commissio s deliberatios Coduct ay other orgaizatioal tasks that ca be prepared i advace of the commissio s seatig Preparatio of the Commissio, Part 2 (Start: Aug. 16, 2020) Begi traiig for full commissio immediately, icludig VRA ad guidace o diversity ad itergroup commuicatio; if ecessary, traiig for origial commissioers should be repeated for the full group Hire support staff Adopt criteria for hirig cosultats (lie-drawig cotractor, cousel, VRA cousel, polarizatio specialists) Coduct first roud of public hearigs Commissio Deliberatios (Start: Sep. 2020) Take ote of ACS data release (ACS survey results for 2019 are released i September 2020, ad results for are released i December 2020) Begi examiatio of VRA districts Draw VRA districts Release first-draft maps (o later tha May 1, 2021) Solicit public commet o first-draft maps Release secod-draft maps (o later tha Jue 15, 2021) Solicit public commet o secod-draft maps Chage draft maps based o public commet Release fial maps (August 2021) Coduct Departmet of Justice Sectio 5 preclearace Post-mappig Phase (Start: August 2021) (Ed: Ja. 2022) Procedural wid-dow, icludig wrappig up ad ay preparatios for ext commissio Litigatio defese related to the fial maps Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 65

71 CHAPTER 7 Timelie ad Budget Sectio of the state costitutio (as ameded by Prop 11) requires that the appropriatio must be equal to or larger tha two baselie amouts: $3 millio or the amout expeded i the immediately precedig redistrictig process adjusted by the cumulative chage i the Califoria Cosumer Price Idex. The budget estimate of $3 millio proved far too low, especially oce the voters added cogressioal redistrictig to the commissio s charge. The umber had bee chose to match the Legislative Aalyst s estimate of costs for the usuccessful 2005 redistrictig ballot measure. 2 The law madates that the budget level for the subsequet redistrictig be built o the foudatio of actual expeditures o the previous roud. I order to ascertai the projected amout for the ext roud of redistrictig, the cost of the 2011 model provides a baselie. Thus there are serious budget implicatios to ay assessmet of the real cost of the 2011 process. Upo completio of its work, the commissio determied that the state s fial cost for the redistrictig process had bee more tha $10 millio. The state govermet largely provided the fuds required to complete the commissio s work, based o a series of budget requests put together by the commissio staff. The commissio oted that The James Irvie Foudatio support for outreach amouted to more tha $3 millio. 3 A compariso to Arizoa s citize redistrictig process suggests that the overall budget of the Califoria process was reasoable, although this report suggests that the priorities withi that budget should be chaged for the ext iteratio. I Arizoa, the Idepedet Redistrictig Commissio (IRC) was formed followig the passage of a ballot measure (Prop 106) i The Arizoa Costitutio as ameded by Prop 106 requires that the legislature shall make the ecessary appropriatios by a majority vote for redistrictig expeses. 4 The legislature appropriated $6 millio for the commissio 2 commuicatio from Kathay Feg. 3 Though the commissio s report idicates that the outreach work coducted by The James Irvie Foudatio was required by the Costitutio, this does ot mea that the foudatio had to perform it. It does suggest that the budgets for future commissios should iclude some of the fuctios metioed i the costitutio that the foudatio performed. 4 Arizoa Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriatios Report, p. 136, azleg.gov/jlbc/12app/irc.pdf. Table 10. Spedig o First-time Idepedet Commissios i Califoria ad Arizoa Califoria ( ) Arizoa ( ) Govermet $10,449,728 $10,203,000 (authorized) Private (The James Irvie Foudatio)* $3,466,560 o private fudig Total $13,763,053 $9,554,100 (spet) Populatio (2010) 37,253,956 6,392,017 Cogressioal Seats 53 9 (2012) Spedig Per Cogressioal Seat (public) $152,953 $1,061,567 *The James Irvie Foudatio made grats totalig $3,548,325 regardig redistrictig. Of this amout, $388,325 was for research ad evaluatio regardig redistrictig. For this study, I have subtracted the latter amout because it was ot for duties related to the operatio of the commissio. The majority of the fuds were to supplemet the outreach program of the BSA ad the commissio, obligatios icluded i Prop 11. i fiscal year The commissio the received a additioal $4,203,000 from the geeral fud i fiscal year 2004 to cover the costs of te years of litigatio. 5 The total appropriatio was $10,203, The IRC spet slowly i its first year ad the accelerated. Its heaviest expeditures came i fiscal years Over the course of its ie-year cycle, the commissio spet $9,554,100. Spedig for Califoria s ad Arizoa s redistrictig was comparable, but give Califoria s sigificatly larger size, the cost was far lower whe measured as cost per cogressioal district. For the 2011 Arizoa redistrictig process, the state provided somewhat less fudig tha the precedig roud had received. For fiscal year 2011, the state icluded oly $500,000 i the budget, cosiderig that the first year would have less activity tha the previous cycle. For fiscal year 2012, a sum of $3,000,000 was authorized. 7 Partisa coflict over redistrictig was substatially greater i 2011 tha i the 2001 redistrictig 5 Ibid., p Iformatio o the Arizoa redistrictig budget was geerously provided by Raymod F. Bladie, Commissio Executive Director, ad Kristia Gomez, Deputy Executive Director. 7 Arizoa Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriatios Report, p League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

72 CHAPTER 7 Timelie ad Budget cycle. Disputes arose over the fudig of the commissio, ad moey had to be allocated for legal defese agaist lawsuits by the state attorey geeral regardig ope-meetig laws. I March 2012, the Arizoa commissio threateed to take legal actio agaist the state if it did ot provide the fudig required to defed the commissio agaist challeges to its chairperso by the goveror ad the legislature. 8 The compositio of expeditures differed betwee the two states. For example, Arizoa provided o compesatio for commissioers other tha reimbursemet for direct expeses. For the secod iteratio i Arizoa, the lie-drawig cotract was larger tha that allocated to Q2 i Califoria, despite the much-larger scope of the mappig process i Califoria. Arizoa s liedrawig firm, Strategic Telemetry, received $682,450 for work i a oe-year period from July 2011 through Jue Sice commissioers were appoited i Arizoa from a list of omiees, rather tha through the extesive process of vettig as i Califoria, the frot-ed costs of selectig commissioers were somewhat lower. Preparig the Next Roud s Budget The 2011 Califoria redistrictig process had to be iveted from scratch; budget decisios were made i light of the requiremets of Prop 11 ad the extreme press of time o the commissio itself. With the beefits of hidsight ad foresight, plaers ca realig some expeditures for the ext iteratio. Though the state costitutio ow sets the level of state support as equal to that of the previous redistrictig, adjusted by the cost of livig, the ext Califoria commissio will certaily eed a careful justificatio of all expeditures. The 2011 commissio proposed that the ext roud of redistrictig budget for the four ad a half additioal moths that the legislature grated i respose to the commissio request for a extra six moths. The commissio estimated that this extra time would cost $1,017, A careful examiatio of the eeds of the ext commissio may lead to adjustmets i that estimate if the scope of work is spread out over a loger period of time. Because the State Auditor already has regulatios i place, less time ad expese should be devoted to the selectio process. A BSA cotract for a geeral outreach effort for commissioer selectio is ot ecessary. The laguage of Prop 11 seems to suggest that the outreach priority should be with the commissio itself: adequate fudig for a statewide outreach program to solicit broad public participatio i the redistrictig process (emphasis added). The ext time aroud, orgaized groups are likely to geerate a great deal of the publicity, ecouragig people to apply for commissioer positios. I additio, with time to pla i advace, the state ca publicize the availability of positios through votig materials set to all registered voters i scheduled electios. The outreach coducted by the U.S. Cesus may be helpful as well. I this way, some fuds ca be reserved for the commissio s ow outreach ad to replace some of The James Irvie Foudatio fuds dedicated to the 2011 process. More moey should be allocated to obtaiig data that ca assist the commissio, icludig data o COIs ad polarized votig aalyses. The commissioers arguably worked early full time from February through August. A better-orgaized deliberatio process, with greater use of staff, might require fewer commissioer meetigs, especially of committees, ad less ivolvemet by commissioers i admiistrative matters. The same level of commissioer compesatio spread over te years would allow the commissioers to assist the ext citize body without sufferig udue fiacial hardship. Commissioer travel costs ca be reduced by coductig hearigs differetly, for example, by usig distace techology ad ot requirig all commissioers to atted all hearigs. (Arizoa used a similar model of commissioer divisio of labor.) 10 This pla might also reduce the overall cost of public meetigs. 8 Christopher Coover, Seate Gives Redistrictig Commissio Oe Dollar, Arizoa Public Media, March 7, 2012, org/p/idepth/2012/3/7/93-seate-gives-redistrictig-commissiooe-dollar/. 9 See 012/hadouts_ _crc_fialcosts_draft.pdf, accessed August 25, Iterview with Jeifer Stee, Arizoa State Uiversity. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 67

73 CHAPTER 7 Timelie ad Budget Clearly there are difficulties with this approach if it reduces the ability of the commissio to maitai close cotact with the public. However, ew techologies are likely to help bridge the gap betwee commissioers ad the public. Coclusios Time pressure was a key issue i the 2011 redistrictig process. Too much time wet to the commissioerselectio process. I the ext roud, more time should be devoted to preparig the commissio for their deliberatios ad to the deliberatio process itself. Because the first commissio established certai aspects of the process, ad the BSA ow has regulatios for commissioer selectio i place, this should ot be difficult to implemet. Likewise, less of the budget, especially for outreach, should be devoted to recruitig ad selectio of commissioers, ad more should go to the commissio s work. Though the 2011 commissio cost far more tha the iitial $3 millio assessmet, compariso with Arizoa s redistrictig process suggests that commissio costs were reasoable. Addressig the types of staffig issues cited earlier i this report, ad relyig more o techology, might reduce the umber of meetigs eeded ad the travel required for commissioers, thereby brigig certai costs dow. 68 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

74 Califoria Citizes Redistrictig Commissio Chapter 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future The Califoria citize redistrictig process was largely successful i meetig the madated goals of a opartisa ad trasparet process, with a level of icumbet ifluece that was cosiderably lower tha i previous redistrictig efforts. The fial maps survived legal challege, ad the commissio s work was regarded positively by a majority of the voters. I 2012, the first test of the commissio s maps provided evidece that the ew district lies caused sigificat turover i elected offices. However, to succeed i the ext iteratio, the commissio will have to have more time, be better supported ad orgaized, ad obtai access to a wider rage of demographic ad ecoomic data. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 69

75 CHAPTER 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future Overall, the Califoria citize redistrictig process was a success. Although there were flaws i the desig ad executio of the pla, future efforts ca build o the foudatio it created ad implemeted. Those who developed the ew redistrictig program first wo a uphill electio ad the saw their program implemeted. They had devoted great attetio to detailig how commissioers were selected, ad the care paid off. The process of selectig commissioers was coducted i public view, with clear guidelies ad with careful directio from the State Auditor. The decisio to lodge the selectio process i the hads of a opartisa office somewhat shielded from political cotrol tured out to be wise oe. A aggressive campaig, both by the auditor ad by outside orgaizatios, led more tha 30,000 Califorias to apply to become commissioers. Detailed criteria reduced some of the potetial for coflicts of iterest withi the commissioer pool. Icumbet elected officials had little ifluece over the selectio of commissioers, except for the ability to elimiate ames ear the ed of the process. The strikig provisio was a useful tool to make certai that problematic commissioers did ot make it past the BSA s filters. The selected commissioers were a diverse group, some with extesive experiece i public life ad others ew to such challeges. There were problems i dividig the selectio process ito two phases, oe to select the first eight ad oe to allow the first group to choose the last six. The commissio s formatio i two separate parts added to the time required to create a cohesive group ad VRA traiig was trucated betwee the two sets of commissioers. But whe they came together for their first formal meetigs i Jauary 2011, the commissioers were ethusiastic ad eergetic about the task ahead. Although the commissioers believed strogly i public iput, they were surprised ad at times overwhelmed by the volume of public commet that they received. Attedace at public hearigs was greater tha expected, ad the massive amout of they received represeted a challege for each commissioer. Despite a caledar that was highly urealistic give the scope of the task, the commissio completed its work o time, issuig a first set of draft maps o Jue 10 ad its fial maps by the madated date of August 15, NOTEWorthY 2 to 1 Amog voters familiar with the commissio s work, approval outweighed disapproval by early 2 to 1. The work of the commissio eared majority votes from all three required groups of commissioers: Democrats, Republicas, ad those ot aliged with either major party. The commissio was required by law to have votes o substative matters with separate majorities of the five Republicas, the five Democrats, ad the four oaliged commissioers. Two Republica commissioers voted agaist all or part of the fial product. Republica Commissioer Michael Ward voted o o all the maps, idicatig that his objectios were to a process he cosidered partisa ad isufficietly trasparet. He idicated, however, that he opposed a subsequet ballot measure sposored by Republica activists seekig to ivalidate the state seate maps. Aother Republica commissioer, Jodie Filkis Webber, voted agaist oly the cogressioal maps. The maps survived streuous legal challeges i state ad federal courts with o adverse judicial decisios. I a uaimous 7 0 decisio upholdig the state seate maps, the Califoria Supreme Court oted, Not oly do the Commissio-certified Seate districts appear to comply with all of the costitutioally-madated criteria set forth i Califoria Costitutio, article XXI, the Commissio-certified Seate districts also are a product of what geerally appears to have bee a ope, trasparet ad opartisa redistrictig process as called for by the curret provisios of article XXI. 1 The Uited States District Court also dismissed a legal challege to the commissio s maps. Voters respoded positively to the work of the commissio. The Field Orgaizatio tested public opiio 1 Vadermost, 53 Cal. 4th 421, 484 (2012). 70 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

76 CHAPTER 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future o a measure targeted for the November 2012 ballot to overtur the state seate maps. Oe-third of Califoria s voters were familiar with the commissio s work, ad of those who were aware, approval outweighed disapproval by early 2 to 1. Amog all voters, oly 29 percet supported overturig the state-seate lies draw by the commissio. 2 The commissio s ope process was a sigificat improvemet over previous Califoria redistrictig efforts, which were domiated by isiders ad opaque to the public. I a comparative study of trasparecy of state goverig processes i which the state received a B- overall, the citize redistrictig process received a A, with a score of 100 percet. 3 This study maily focuses o the process of desigig ad implemetig the redistrictig commissio. Others have explored the mappig process i greater detail, comparig the results to the criteria embodied i the state costitutio by Props 11 ad 20. Two idepedet studies coducted for this report 4 demostrated that the commissio was effective i followig accepted techiques ad processes i mappig (see chapter 5) ad i followig a decisio-makig process that geerally met accepted stadards for addressig VRA issues (see chapter 6). A study coducted by Nicholas Stephaopoulus foud that the fial maps geerally respected COIs. 5 Vladimir Koga ad Eric McGhee cocluded that the commissio achieved the mai substative goals of Prop Specifically, they determied that the commissio had made a sigificat improvemet over the 2001 redistrictig pla accordig to Prop 11 s criteria. Furthermore, they foud importat improvemets betwee the Jue 10 ad August maps, i areas such as miority access to represetatio. Koga ad McGhee also foud that the 2011 commissio plas represeted a modest improvemet o the 2001 legislative redistrictig i terms of preservig the itegrity of existig commuities. The commissio drew more compact districts tha had the legislature te years before. The commissio reached a early perfect level of estig i its Jue maps, but adjustmets to achieve other madated goals reduced estig somewhat; evertheless, it remaied at a higher level tha i The 2012 Electios ad Citize Redistrictig I 2012, the work of the commissio received a sigificat, real-world test, with primary ad geeral electios for Cogress ad for the state legislature. The simultaeous presece of a secod reform the top-two primary complicates assessmets of the idepedet impact of the citize redistrictig process. 7 A study commissioed by the Public Policy Istitute of Califoria (PPIC) examied the impact of both electoral reforms. 8 Though the top-two primary created the most remarkable chages, the authors cocluded that the ew districts also altered the electoral ladscape, leadig may icumbets to pass o reelectio, forcig others to itroduce themselves to ufamiliar voters, ad icreasig the umber of competitive races overall. Whe a redistrictig process is ot built aroud the electoral iterests of icumbets, the possibility of competitive races icreases simply because icumbecy reduces competitio: The state ow has 38 ew assemblymembers, 9 ew state seators, ad 14 ew members of Cogress. 9 Overall, the citize redistrictig achieved a goal that was ot i the law itself but that was cosistet with its spirit: shakig up the icumbet-cetered world of Califoria politics. Though Democrats scored big wis i the November electios, the road was tougher for icumbets of both parties. Some icumbets chose ot to ru for reelectio uder the ew district lies 2 Field Poll, Release #2389, September 22, Ceter for Public Itegrity, accessed August 25, 2012, stateitegrity.org/califoria_survey_redistrictig. 4 Coducted by Mark Drayse ad Justi Levitt, respectively. 5 Nicholas O. Stephaopoulos, Commuities ad the Commissio, Staford Law ad Policy Review 23 (2012): Vladimir Koga ad Eric McGhee, Redistrictig Califoria: A Evaluatio of the Citizes Commissio s Fial Plas, Califoria Joural of Politics ad Policy 4 (2012): The top-two primary system, adopted by Califoria voters i 2010, replaced the traditioal party primaries with ope primaries. The top two cadidates were to face off i the geeral electio, eve if they were of the same party ad eve if oe cadidate received a majority of all votes cast i the primary electio. 8 Eric McGhee ad Daiel Krimm, Califoria s New Electoral Reforms: The Fall Electio (Public Policy Istitute of Califoria, 2012). 9 Ibid. Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 71

77 CHAPTER 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future or were forced to ru i districts where their political bases were cosiderably weaker. Democratic Cogressma Hery Waxma faced reelectio i a altered district that was less Democratic, ad he eded up with oe of the toughest battles of his career. Aother Democratic Cogressma, Howard Berma, the leader of past Democratic redistrictig efforts i Califoria, was forced ito a largely ufamiliar district i which he lost by a large margi to his Democratic colleague Brad Sherma. A study by the Brea Ceter for Justice foud that the Califoria maps reduced safe cogressioal seats by ie. The study oted that Elto Gallegy, a Republica member of Cogress, retired rather tha ru i a district that moved from formerly Republica to Democratic. I a eighborig district formerly cosidered safe, Democrat Lois Capps foud herself i a competitive race agaist a Republica, Abel Maldoado. 10 Amog other chages, the ew maps created the state s first Asia America majority electoral district, the 49 th assembly district i the West Sa Gabriel Valley. I December, 2011, the New York based ivestigative orgaizatio ProPublica released a report 11 chargig that Califoria s cogressioal Democrats had formed a secret workig group of members ad cosultats that maaged to subvert the process i order to keep their icumbets safe. Though ProPublica has a reputatio for soud ivestigative jouralism, there were sigificat problems with its redistrictig report. Amog these were errors of fact suggestig that the authors were ot well iformed about the commissio, icludig the report s assertio (corrected i a later versio) that the commissioers worked without pay ad the ucorrected commet that the commissio held o 10 Sudeep Iyer ad Keesha Gaskis, Redistrictig ad Cogressioal Cotrol: A First Look (Brea Ceter for Justice, New York Uiversity School of Law, 2012). 11 Olga Pierce ad Jeff Larso, How Democrats Fooled Califoria s Redistrictig Commissio, December 21, 2011, accessed September 3, 2012, See also Olga Pierce et al., Aswerig Your Questios o Our Califoria Redistrictig Story, December 23, 2011, accessed September 3, 2012, org/article/aswerig-your-questios-o-our-califoria-redistrictigstory. public hearigs after the release of the Jue 10 maps. 12 Although the authors made a strog case that cogressioal Democrats tried to ifluece the process, the report preseted less compellig evidece that cogressioal Democrats as a whole had successfully iflueced the commissio. Udoubtedly, there were some Democrats ad some Republicas who maaged to wi advatages i the process by usig stad-is purportig to represet commuity setimet but who i reality acted to protect their political iterests. But the authors of the widely circulated article igored substatial evidece that broader demographic ad electoral treds explaied much of the Democratic success i the 2012 electios. A aalysis of partisa outcomes suggested that Democrats did ideed make improvemets i their positio i cogressioal seats that were greater tha those they gaied i the assembly ad seate. 13 However, the same study argued that the reaso for this differece was that i 2001 the icumbet-protectio pla disadvataged Democratic prospects i cogressioal races i order to protect icumbets to a much greater degree tha i assembly ad seate races. The 2011 cogressioal maps were cosiderably more competitive tha i 2001 but i a maer that allowed Democratic gais based o growth i populatios favorable to Democrats to be more useful to party cadidates. Lookig to the Future Though Califoria s first effort at citize-led redistrictig followed a process that was at times rough aroud the edges, it more tha met the Voters First Act s goals of trasparecy ad fairess. Those who desiged the 12 Olie resposes by the authors to questios raised by the public about the report revealed other problems. I oe follow-up respose, the authors suggested that the commissio had favored oe Democratic cogressma, Brad Sherma, over aother, Howard Berma, because Sherma had hired a firm associated with a Democratic political cosultat. The problem with this iterpretatio is that virtually the etire Democratic cogressioal delegatio had edorsed Berma over Sherma. If the Democratic cogressioal delegatio were gamig the system for a ally, it would have bee for Berma, ot Sherma. While Sherma might well have worked hard ad successfully to get the best possible district for himself, this would ot have bee the preferred outcome for the bulk of the Democratic delegatio. 13 Koga ad McGhee, Redistrictig Califoria, League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

78 CHAPTER 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future citize redistrictig process were real pioeers, both i wiig a electoral victory that had eluded previous reform efforts ad i creatig ad moitorig the process their campaig had created. Citizes seekig to adopt similar reforms i their states or commuities would be well served to lear from this experiece, from what worked ad from what eeds improvemet. The commissio received the beefit of the doubt as a rookie operatio with a widely popular goal of ehacig citize cotrol over a redistrictig process log domiated by elected officials. The commissio s massive outreach demostrated a remarkable appetite for public commet. Its sicere pursuit of trasparecy, though ot always perfect, eared it more leeway with the public. But i te years, the citize redistrictig process will ot beefit from first-time status. Its work will be more carefully watched ad criticized. Political forces that were baffled, agered, quietly ivolved, or geerally throw o the defesive will be much better prepared to exercise ifluece. Eve with its flaws, the ProPublica report highlighted what might be a more realistic fear for the ext redistrictig: that oe or both major political parties or leadig politicias i either party may fid ways to bed the commissio to its will. There is reaso for cocer about the ext roud. I Arizoa, the first citize redistrictig proceeded i relative peace. Lawsuits were filed ad fought, but the process stayed relatively free of political pyrotechics. The secod iteratio i 2011 proved far more cotetious. Whe the commissio hired a mappigcosultig firm, the state attorey geeral sued o the grouds that the commissio had violated ope-meetig laws. The tie-breakig chairperso was impeached by the legislature ad the reistated by a state court. 14 I Los Ageles, a ew city charter i 1999 created a advisory citize commissio for the city s redistrictig. Whereas it had a calm first ru i 2001, its teure a decade later was marked by allegatios of political iterferece from key political leaders ad by serious 14 Accordig to Bruce Cai, Eterig the 2011 redistrictig, there were two possibilities: that the AIRC would build o its reasoable success i 2001, or that with experiece ad kowledge of the process uder their belt, the parties ad political players would game the system more effectively. The aswer, ufortuately, tured out to be the latter ; Cai, Redistrictig Commissios, 125. commuity coflict over how the lies were draw. 15 Reforms to ehace citize power over redistrictig will cofrot a more orgaized eviromet the secod time aroud. Iterest groups will have a icetive to become ivolved early ad ofte. Orgaized public iput is likely to be far more sophisticated ad widespread. Gamesmaship ad artful lobbyig amog cadidates, the political parties, iterest groups, ad others are likely to mark the ext roud. The political parties will have plety of time to pla. This shift will have to be aticipated, recogized, ad built ito the process. Those who desiged the citize redistrictig process were real pioeers. There will likely be much greater iterest i who becomes a commissioer, ot just as a type of lottery for idividuals but as a proxy for groups. With the importace of COIs, cities ad couties will wat to esure that they have a sympathetic voice o the commissio. The origial desig of the commissio assumed that commissioers would be idepedet, eve as members of a political party. If either or both major political parties groom successful cadidates for commissio positios, they could create a votig factio o the commissio. Either major party may succeed i creatig a blockig miority of three votes that could hold substative decisios hostage. To successfully cofrot what will likely be a more sophisticated, better prepared, ad more orgaized set of iterested parties, the commissio will eed to be equally prepared ad orgaized. There will be somethig lost as well as gaied i this trasitio. The first commissio had a pioeerig spirit, as the commissioers esse- 15 David Zahiser, Wesso Deies Newly Draw Coucil Districts Are Payback, Los Ageles Times, Feb. 17, 2012, com/2012/feb/17/local/la-me-city-redistrictig Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 73

79 CHAPTER 8 Assessmets ad Lookig to the Future tially iveted their paths to fial maps by creatig a agecy from scratch. The strog persoal bod amog the commissioers ad their high level of morale i tough circumstaces will ot easily be reproduced the ext time. But though the experiece will be differet for the ext group, it ca be equally successful if it is built o soud plaig ad careful executio. The ext commissio will be less freewheelig ad more structured. But it will also be better able to aticipate ad iterpret the myriad political ad orgaizatioal challeges throw its way. Protectio agaist political iterferece i the ext cycle will require a data-drive, professioal, wellmaaged process that moves i a stepwise maer from selectio of commissioers, to traiig ad plaig, to public hearigs, to drawig of maps, ad, fially, to adjustmets of maps. No matter how well armed a citizes commissio is with objective data, however, redistrictig has may subjective elemets ope to partisa or ideological disagreemet. Nothig i redistrictig is free of these debates, from the iterpretatio of the VRA to the value of keepig muicipal ad couty boudaries itact. If the ext commissioers kow that every decisio from hirig staff ad cosultats to choosig where ad how to ru meetigs may activate such political disagreemets, they will be prepared ot to elimiate all political differeces but to reduce the udue ifluece of icumbecy i redistrictig ad the appearace of bias i the process. I order for Califorias to view citize redistrictig as a effective mechaism, the process will eed to prove itself agai after the 2020 Cesus. Commissioers will eed to maitai idepedece ad owership but simultaeously draw from a stroger base of professioal support. The desigers of the citize redistrictig process assumed that a log ad careful search would result i the selectio of idepedet commissioers free of the ifluece of icumbet politicias or political parties. I large part, the outcome of this first citize redistrictig process validated this assumptio. However, this faith will ot suffice for a log-term, istitutioalized model of citize redistrictig. Compare this to the desig of a citize jury. A etwork of istitutioal forces assists ad guides the jurors so that they ca devote their attetio to hearig the evidece ad deliberatig toward a verdict. No such luxury awaited Califoria s first crop of redistrictig commissioers. Upo their arrival, commissioers foud little i place to guide their work. The eight commissioers selected by radom draw had to choose the ext six. They also had to select a executive director, VRA cousel, ad a lie-drawig cosultat. Decisios had already bee made before they took office that costraied their choices. Ad the timelie was witherigly tight, as the full commissio took office o Jauary 12, 2011, ad fial maps were due o August 15, (The desigers of Prop 11 had give them util September, but Prop 20, passed i 2010, tighteed the deadlie to August.) Highly motivated commissioers, staff, ad cosultats worked overtime to make the process work. They made mistakes ad the fixed them, fell behid ad the caught up by dit of extra hours ad goodwill. Without sigificat correctio to these aspects of the process, the citize redistrictig model will be i trouble i te years. The citize redistrictig process delivered much more tha might have bee expected from a group of civic activists cotedig at the ballot ad amateur citizes with a short timelie, a limited budget, ad isufficiet traiig. At times, the process seemed i serious trouble; ad yet, at the ed of the day, the commissio largely succeeded i its madated goals. The lessos of their experiece will eed to be adapted for those who ext accept the obligatio to draw the lies. 74 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

80 appedix 1 List of Iterviewees Gabio Aguirre, Commissioer Agelo Acheta, Commissioer Vicet Barabba, Commissioer Maria Blaco, Commissioer Bruce Cai, Uiversity of Califoria, Berkeley Chris Carso, League of Wome Voters of Califoria Da Claypool, Commissio Executive Director Cythia Dai, Commissioer Michelle R. DiGuilio, Commissioer Kathay Feg, Califoria Commo Cause Margarita Feradez, Bureau of State Audits Jodie Filkis Webber, Commissioer Staley Forbes, Commissioer Coie Galambos Malloy, Commissioer Astrid Garcia, Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad Appoited Officials Boie Glaser, Berkeley Law Ceter for Research ad Admiistratio, UC Berkeley Rosalid Gold, Natioal Associatio of Latio Elected ad Appoited Officials Marqueece Harris-Dawso, Commuity Coalitio Catherie Hazelto, The James Irvie Foudatio Aa Hederso, Warre Istitute of Law ad Social Policy, UC Berkeley Deborah Howard, Cosultat to Califoria Chamber of Commerce Deaa Kitamura, Asia Pacific America Legal Coucil Erica Teasley Liick, Africa America Redistrictig Collaborative Kari Mac Doald, Q2, Statewide Database Dora Mejia, Secretary of State s Office Paul Mitchell, Redistrictig Cosultat Steve Ochoa, Mexica America Legal Defese ad Educatio Fud Lilbert Gil R. Otai, Commissioer M. Adre Parveu, Commissioer Toy Qui, Commetator Nacy Ramirez, Mexica America Legal Defese ad Educatio Fud Jeae Raya, Commissioer Sharo Reilly, Chief Legal Cousel, Bureau of State Audits Matt Rexroad, Redistrictig Cosultat Michelle Romero, Greeliig Istitute Steve Russo, Chief Ivestigator, Bureau of State Audits Trudy Schafer, League of Wome Voters of Califoria Adam Soeshei, Los Ageles Uiversal Preschool Jeifer Stee, Arizoa State Uiversity Tuua Thrash, West Ageles Commuity Developmet Corporatio ad Greeliig Istitute Paul Turer, West Ageles Commuity Developmet Corporatio ad City of Los Ageles Ethics Commissio Michael Ward, Commissioer Rob Wilcox, Commissio Commuicatios Director Peter Yao, Commissioer Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 75

81 appedix 2 Research Team Biographies Author Raphael J. Soeshei, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Edmud G. Pat Brow Istitute for Public Affairs at Califoria State Uiversity, Los Ageles. Previously, he was Chair of the Divisio of Politics, Admiistratio, ad Justice at CSU Fullerto where he taught political sciece for 29 years. He received his B.A. i public policy from Priceto, ad his M.A. ad Ph.D. i political sciece from Yale. His book Politics i Black ad White: Race ad Power i Los Ageles (Priceto Uiversity Press, 1993) received the 1994 Ralph J. Buche Award from the America Political Sciece Associatio as the best political sciece book of the year o ethic ad cultural pluralism. Betwee 1997 ad 1999, Dr. Soeshei served as Executive Director of the City of Los Ageles (Appoited) Charter Reform Commissio. His book, The City at Stake: Secessio, Reform, ad the Battle for Los Ageles, was published i 2004 by Priceto Uiversity Press. He has sice advised charter reforms i Gledale, Burbak, Culver City, ad Hutigto Beach, ad served as Executive Director of the Los Ageles Neighborhood Coucil Review Commissio. The League of Wome Voters of Los Ageles published his third book, Los Ageles: Structure of a City Govermet, i He served for 18 moths as a Fellow of the Joh Radolph Hayes ad Dora Hayes Foudatio. At CSUF, Dr. Soeshei was amed Best Educator by Associated Studets ad Distiguished Faculty Member by the School of Humaities ad Social Scieces. I 2005, Dr. Soeshei received a $20,000 Wag Family Excellece Award for statewide faculty. I 2006, he was amed the first wier of the campus wide Carol Bares Award for Teachig Excellece. He was oe of two co-wiers of $25,000 awards from the Joh Radolph Hayes ad Dora Hayes Foudatio of the first ad oly Hayes Research Impact Awards. I 2012, Dr. Soeshei received the Harry Scoville Award for Academic Excellece from the Souther Califoria chapter of the America Society of Public Admiistrators. He was selected as the fall 2008 Fulbright Tocqueville Distiguished Chair i America Studies at the Uiversity of Paris 8. His curret research, with CSUF geographer Mark Drayse, supported by the Russell Sage Foudatio, explores the prospects for Africa America-Latio coalitios i Los Ageles. Research Cosultats Melia Abdullah, Ph.D. (commuity orgaizatios ad public access) is Actig Chair ad Associate Professor of Pa-Africa Studies at Califoria State Uiversity, Los Ageles. She eared her Ph.D. ad M.A. from the Uiversity of Souther Califoria i Political Sciece ad her B.A. from Howard Uiversity i Africa America Studies. Dr. Abdullah s research focuses o power allocatio ad societal trasformatio. She has authored several articles ad book chapters, icludig The Emergece of a Black Femiist Leadership Model, Hip Hop as Political Expressio, Self-Defied Leadership Amog Black Wome, Capitalistic Hads aroud My Throat: Corporate Cotrol ad the Erosio of Hip Hop s Womaist Roots, Pushig ad Pullig Towards Coalitio: Africa Americas ad the Electio of Atoio Villaraigosa, ad Towards a Womaist Leadership Praxis: Electoral/Grassroots Alliaces i Black Califoria. Dr. Abdullah is curretly workig o her first book, Move the Crowd: Hip Hop ad Political Mobilizatio. Mark Drayse, Ph.D. (mappig process)is a Professor 76 League of Wome Voters of Califoria Whe the People Draw the Lies

82 of Geography at Califoria State Uiversity, Fullerto, where he has taught sice Professor Drayse received his B.A. i geography from Clark Uiversity, his M.A. i geography from the Uiversity of Toroto, ad his Ph.D. i geography from UCLA. Dr. Drayse s curret research is focused o globalizatio ad regioal ecoomic chage i North America, ad challeges of ecoomic developmet i souther Africa. He is collaboratig with Raphael Soeshei o a aalysis of urba political coalitios i a age of immigratio, focusig o Los Ageles. Boie Glaser, Ph.D. (techology ad public ivolvemet) is a Research Specialist at the UC Berkeley Law Ceter for Research ad Admiistratio. Dr. Glaser holds a masters degree i public health ad Ph.D. i political sciece, both from UC Berkeley. For the past five years, Glaser coordiated ad coducted electio admiistratio research projects o the topics of poll worker traiig ad performace, local electio office operatios, pollig place votig ad votigby-mail, uiformed ad overseas voters, ad o-lie voter registratio. I 2010 ad 2011, she maaged a multi-proged outreach ad educatio project aimed at icreasig the umber of people actively ivolved with ad iformed about redistrictig i Califoria. ad have those votes couted. He was a law clerk to Judge Stephe Reihardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Nith Circuit. Research Associate Nedda Black, JD, MSW received her J.D. from U.C. Hastigs College of the Law, her M.S.W. from New York Uiversity, ad her B.A. i Political Sciece from Califoria State Uiversity, Fullerto. While at Hastigs, she received Outstadig Achievemet i Pro Boo ad Outstadig Voluteer i Public Service awards, ad was a Board of Directors Scholar for the Califoria Bar Foudatio. She was a staff editor for the Hastigs Wome s Law Joural ad Maagig Director for Homeless Legal Services. She has bee employed as a Graduate Research Fellow for several Hastigs faculty. Justi Levitt, JD/MPA (Votig Rights Issues) is a atioal expert o the law of democracy. He graduated maga cum laude with a law degree ad a masters degree i public admiistratio from Harvard Uiversity, where he was a articles editor for the Harvard Law Review. Levitt has testified before committees of the U.S. Seate, the U.S. Civil Rights Commissio, several state legislative bodies, ad both federal ad state courts. His research has bee published i toptier law reviews ad peer-reviewed jourals ad has bee cited extesively i the media ad the courts, icludig the U.S. Supreme Court; he also maitais All About Redistrictig (redistrictig.lls.edu), a website devoted to redistrictig law atiowide. Levitt has worked at several civil rights ad civil liberties oprofits, ad served i various capacities for several presidetial campaigs, icludig as the Natioal Voter Protectio Cousel i 2008, helpig to ru a effort esurig that tes of millios of citizes could vote Whe the People Draw the Lies League of Wome Voters of Califoria 77

83 League of Wome Voters of Califoria, 1107 Nith Street, Suite 300 Sacrameto, CA (888) 870-VOTE (8683) lwvc.org