State Senators in California could face some complications as a result of a new drawing up of the boundaries of their districts.
The Citizens Redistricting Commission has set about to come up with a way to number and redraw 40 state senate districts in order to be more fair and not disenfranchise voters within those districts.
“Disenfranchising a whole bunch of voters would undo a lot of the good we’ve done,” said commissioner Cynthia Dai.
According to their website, the commission was created by the Voters FIRST Act, which was approved by voters in November 2008. The first members of the commission were selected by the California State Auditor on November 18, 2010.
“For the first time ever, Californians will know exactly who drew the maps, how they were drawn and for what reason, and they know their voices were heard,” Helen Hutchison, vice president of the League of Women Voters of California, told the commission during one of its meetings.
State Senators are elected to four-year terms in California. Districts that are odd numbered will have their Senators up for election in 2012 while even numbered districts will have their Senators up for election in 2014.
As a result of district redrawing, some senators will be shifted around to other districts.
With this shift, some Republicans and a few Democrats could lose their seats in the state congress, which could possibly even out the numbers of both parties.
The new shift could also make campaigning for some Senators more difficult in a district that is primarily another party while other Senators might find it easier to campaign in districts more suited to their party.
Senators will not be the only ones affected by the new district boundaries and changes.
According to Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners, some communities could be stuck with two senators by 2013 while other communities will not have any senator that they voted into office.
Other communities that are made up of a particular racial minority could feel a gain or loss in voting power.
Early drawings of the map saw one district in Los Angeles, which was made up of mostly African-Americans, being erased from the map entirely. This idea was scraped.
On the other hand, Latino activists helped secure many Latino dominated districts that would increase the voice of Latino voters.
However, the redistricting could potentially cause so many problems that The Citizens Redistricting Commission has already hired law firms in order to combat legal action against the commission.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the commission has hired legal firms Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Morrison and Foerster at a contract of between $500,000 and $1.5 million depending on how severe the legal action becomes.
“In complying with the law, the commission is confident that these maps will prevail against any and all legal challenges,” said Chairwoman Connie Galambos Malloy. “We also believe that the new districts will be upheld in the court of public opinion.”
