First court hearing on SLO County redistricting map is Wednesday — here’s what to expect
The citizens’ group suing San Luis Obispo County over its recently adopted redistricting map will appear in court on Wednesday to argue against allowing it to be used in upcoming elections.
Attorneys for SLO County Citizens for Good Government on Wednesday morning will make the case that San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Federman should issue an injunction preventing the county from using the controversial five-district Patten map the county Board of Supervisors approved in December.
Instead, they’ll argue the county should “(preserve) the status quo” during upcoming elections, according to a brief attorneys filed on Jan. 26.
The attorneys suggest the county could “lawfully rely on the 2011 map for the June 2022 election because the county’s increase in population did not require any modification to the 2011 map other than a few minor changes to conform districts to revised census tracts.”
They also point out that Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg — who was appointed to her seat by Gov. Gavin Newsom — is already running for election under the previous District 3 boundaries, not the newly drawn ones.
The group — which describes itself as a “nonpartisan coalition of SLO County citizens” — filed a lawsuit in Janaury against the county claiming the Patten map the county Board of Supervisors approved in December violates the California Fair Maps Act with the goal of “entrenching partisan advantage rather than promoting competitive elections.”
The map was drawn by Arroyo Grande resident Richard Patten and backed by the local Republican Party. It almost entirely ripped up the previous redistricting map, giving Republican supervisor candidates even more of an advantage than they had under the previous map, which already favored them narrowly.
SLO County Citizens for Good Government is hoping Federman will provide them with a preliminary ruling that will give county staff direction on how to prepare for the upcoming primary, said Quinn Brady, a spokeswoman for the group.
While the lawsuit has been underway, supervisor candidates have already begun announcing their campaign plans.
For example, the Patten map changed District 2 into a combination North Coast-North County representation area that now includes Atascadero and San Miguel. As a result, incumbent Supervisor Bruce Gibson is currently facing challenges from two potential North County candidates.
“We can’t wait another four months for a hearing, because the elections are happening now,” Brady said.
