Angry about SLO County redistricting? Here’s what to do about it

A judge’s decision to allow a map that favors Republican voters to be used in the upcoming Board of Supervisors election is disappointing to many San Luis Obispo County residents, to say the least.

The lawsuit will still be heard and the fight isn’t over, but we know what the game board will look like for June.

That should inspire citizens concerned about free and fair elections to work for permanent reform of the redistricting process.

And it needs to start today — not 10 years from now.

To put it simply, there is no way politicians should be in charge of redrawing boundaries of their own districts, even for elections that are supposedly nonpartisan.

These days, nothing is nonpartisan. Not school board elections, or city council elections, and certainly not county supervisor elections.

More than ever before, redistricting is being used to manipulate election results. We’re seeing that here in San Luis Obispo County.

The map approved by the board’s conservative majority — drawn up by a Republican Party member and endorsed by the county Republican Party — gives Republicans a clear advantage in three of the five districts, even though Democrats hold a countywide majority.

To achieve that imbalance, the board carved up the North Coast and divvied it up among three different districts.

That’s brazen — and it will happen again and again if we don’t demand change, because it’s become eminently clear that we can’t trust some of our leaders to do the right thing.

The surest solution is to require that every county appoint bipartisan independent redistricting commissions to redraw boundaries.

Advisory bodies aren’t good enough; county supervisors could simply ignore their recommendations.

Turning the job over to independent commissions would provide protection to all voters, regardless of political affiliation. It would help avoid costly, drawn-out lawsuits. And they may not believe it, but it would benefit politicians as well, since they would not be blamed for any unpopular remapping decisions.

Counties currently have the ability to appoint redistricting commissions, but few took advantage of that in 2021. They should not be given a choice in 2031.

The current system is not working; as we’re seeing, even a legal requirement that forbids redrawing maps to favor a particular political party is not effective.

SLO County’s conservative board majority got around that requirement with their see-no-evil tactic; they simply refused to consider data showing the partisan makeup of the new districts, even though they very clearly know where their supporters are concentrated.

We deserve better than that, and we should demand it from the leaders we elect to serve us.

State lawmakers passed a bill in 2019 that would have required counties with more than 400,000 residents to appoint independent redistricting commissions. That would have been a good start, but Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it.

Lawmakers should try again, only this time, the requirement should apply to every county, because all Californians deserve to have their votes count equally, regardless of where they live.

It’s not too much to ask that once a decade we assemble a bipartisan, independent and fair-minded group of SLO County citizens to draw our local boundaries in a way that is transparent and respectful of regional affiliations while maintaining a semblance of party balance.

Ideally, state legislation will require that, but we don’t need to depend on Sacramento to make this happen. Demand that the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors commit to appointing independent redistricting commissions from here on out, regardless of what the state does.

Ask candidates who are campaigning for seats on the board where they stand on redistricting reform.

Their answers should go a long way toward helping you decide who gets your vote.