SLO County board to pick a new supervisor map today — here’s what you need to know
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will determine how it represents San Luis Obispo County residents when it selects a redistricting map that will remain in place for the next decade.
In a meeting that drew hundreds of people, the board on Nov. 19 selected two finalist maps to discuss at Tuesday’s hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. in the supervisors’ chambers in the county Government Center in downtown San Luis Obispo.
The county Republican Party has spent the past month lobbying supervisors to pick one of the finalist maps. The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce created the other finalist map, which the organization says “takes into account the challenges and opportunities faced by each of the unique, vibrant communities throughout our county.”
Here’s a final look at the two maps and how redrawing representation boundaries could impact county voters.
Republican-backed map vs. Chamber map
View a zoom-able version of Richard Patten’s map here, and a zoom-able version of the SLO Chamber of Commerce map here. Click ‘data layers’ and select ‘municipalities’ to view city boundaries.
Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss the two maps and pick one to officially adopt in December.
The Republican-backed map — drawn by Arroyo Grande resident Richard Patten — would radically change the geographic makeup of the county’s five supervisor districts.
It would split the current North Coast into three pieces, putting Los Osos in one district and Morro Bay in another. Cayucos, Cambria and the rest of the North Coast region would be in a third district with Atascadero.
It would divide the North County such that neighboring communities end up in different districts: Atascadero would be with San Miguel while Santa Margarita would be with Paso Robles and Templeton.
Patten’s map would also divide the city of San Luis Obispo between two supervisors instead of three. A large chunk of San Luis Obispo would be paired with Morro Bay.
In addition, Patten’s map would separate Oceano from Nipomo in a district that straddles Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and runs from Oceano to the edge of Morro Bay State Park. This district would also include the Laguna Lake and airport areas of San Luis Obispo.
The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce’s “SLO County 2030” map would keep the five districts closer to their current shapes, although it would make some changes to the present map.
The Chamber’s map maintains the North Coast in one district, splits San Luis Obispo among three supervisors and keeps Oceano in a district with Nipomo.
However, it would also split Atascadero into two districts, placing part of the city with the North Coast and the other part with Santa Margarita, Pozo, Creston and other North County communities.
How would the two maps impact voters?
Michael Latner, a Cal Poly political science professor, characterizes the Chamber’s map as “a pretty fair map,” in terms of the county’s political leanings.
“Specifically, I mean there’s very little chance that a majority of voters in SLO County would support one set of candidates, but they wouldn’t control a majority of seats,” he said.
Latner said he assesses redistricting maps based on “basic democratic principles,” such as majority rule and protecting voting rights.
He said he spoke with members of the Chamber as they were developing their map and thinks the amount of consultation the Chamber conducted while creating it helped them to come up with a better plan.
“(The Chamber map) looks like it would create a representative Board of Supervisors with very little chance of minority rule,” he said. “Compare that to the Patten map ... especially for the city of San Luis Obispo, the way that those voters are packed into a single district — that really increases the probability and actually makes it quite likely that you could get a minority of voters choosing the majority.”
Latner thinks Patten’s map would create a scenario in which the city of San Luis Obispo — which is the most Democratic-heavy in the county — would elect a supervisor with an overwhelming majority, but “you’ve got more conservative voters that are more narrowly electing supervisors in the remaining districts.”
“That’s a straight violation of the majority rule,” Latner said. “I mean, that’s one of the primary principles, not just of the Fair Maps Act, but the actual state Constitution, which ensures free and fair elections. And when I see results like that, I think it violates the free and fair elections clause of the state Constitution.”
The county has 182,895 registered voters, about 38% of whom are registered Democrats, about 35% of whom are registered Republicans and about 20% of whom are registered no party preference, according to a county Clerk-Recorder’s Office voter registration report updated on Nov. 22. This means the county leans Democratic, but it’s still solidly purple.
Latner said the current district map actually leans a bit conservative, considering three of the five supervisors consistently vote that way.
However, Republicans are interested in locking in a map that trends even more conservative because the party is losing voters, and leaders “see the writing on the wall,” Latner said.
“Frankly, the party is really suffering because they’re not putting up credible candidates, and you’ve got this extremist wing that’s sort of given up on democracy entirely and is using disinformation to try to sow distrust into the electoral process itself,” Latner said.
“... So I think that when you look at the decisions that Republican leadership in the county is making, well, they’re they’re trying to design a map that’s going to let them hold onto power for a few more election cycles,” Latner added. “That’s a pretty clear and observable goal.”
How to watch the Tuesday redistricting hearing
The Board of Supervisors will hold its meeting in person at 9 a.m. at the county Government Center at 1055 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. The previous redistricting hearing on Nov. 19 drew a standing-room-only crowd, so expect the Tuesday meeting to be packed.
To stream the meeting online, visit the Board of Supervisors’ agendas and minutes page at bit.ly/3peLFBm. Links to stream audio and video versions of the meeting will appear at 9 a.m.
The meeting will also air live on TV on cable channel 21.
For more information on the redistricting process, visit the county’s page at bit.ly/3o1tmAo.
