New America Media - Redistricting

Redistricting the NYC Council: A Battle We Must Fight

2012-07-18T17:30:00Z

An editorial in New York's Spanish-language El Diario/La Prensa, translated from Spanish by the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) argues that Latinos must fight to make their voices heard in the battle over redistricting in New York City.

NEW YORK -- The City of New York began the process to update the districts starting in 2012 that are represented by the 51 legislators who make up the City Council, and thus reflect demographic changes in the last 10 years.

Despite being complex and complicated enough, the Latino community (individuals and organizations) should be familiar with this process and the terminology that describes it, lest they take us for a ride.

Redistricting the electoral map is a complex task because it must ensure that the five counties are divided into legislative districts that ensure the representation on the Council of the diverse communities living in the city. It is complicated because political and partisan interests often interfere in the decision-making.

Several weeks ago Mayor Bloomberg and Council Democrats and Republicans announced the names of the 15 people who now make up the commission in charge of redrawing the map and submitting a final plan in November to the full Council.

This process did not begin well.

Shortly after the announcement, the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) noted that only three of the 15-member New York City Districting Commission are Latino, the same number that the commission had in 1990, although the Hispanic community in the city grew by 31% since then.

Under the new demographics, we should have had five representatives on the committee.

The final composition of the committee is disappointing, especially from the Council, which appoints eight of the 15 members.

The way the members of this panel are selected and its final constitution is something that should be analyzed and improved. For now we have to get on this fast train and ensure that the commission does a fair job for Latinos to achieve the representation and participation they deserve.

The newly-formed commission held its initial meeting yesterday, the first of several that will occur during the summer prior to submitting a plan in September for public discussion. It is important that Hispanic groups participate and do their work in the communities they serve to raise awareness about the importance of monitoring the process and attend public hearings.

What is at stake? The power of our voice as a community in public policies that govern our daily lives and in the distribution of funds for vital services in our neighborhoods.

In recent years, Latino neighborhoods have managed to elect 11 Hispanic Councilmembers of the 51 that make up the municipal body. This number --- which represents about 22% of the Council --- is proportional to the share of Latino voters in the city. This parity has been achieved with efforts to incorporate Latinos, make sure we run for office and vote.

However, for various reasons, we do not always get a fair piece of the pie, and our neighborhoods, community groups and small businesses fall short of the support they need to succeed. Hispanics cannot stop sending the message that there are certain lines that cannot be crossed. This is a battle we must fight in a city that often seems reluctant to empower Latinos.

‘Keep K-Town Whole’ Demand L.A. Koreans

2012-03-09T19:22:46Z

Korean activists and community organizers were among a group of about 200 or so who crowded into Los Angeles’ City Hall this past week to make their voices heard as members of the City Council met to discuss what has become a highly controversial redistricting process.

Clad in bright-yellow “I Love K-Town” T-shirts, the group pressed council members on a potential redrawing of the landmark Korean district, calling for it to be merged with a neighboring district that is home to a large Asian population. Doing so, they say, would heighten the prospect of electing the first Asian representative to the council.

Koreatown is currently split between Council Districts 1, 4, 10 and 13. Council President Herb Wesson, who has long represented District 10, is pushing for a larger chunk of the area, a move many Koreans reject, preferring instead to merge with neighboring districts 4 and 13.

The once-a-decade redistricting process was introduced through the 1965 Voting Rights Act and is intended to ensure that political lines are in accord with a city’s demographic shifts.

The Korean American Coalition in Los Angeles and the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council were among a number of groups present at the meeting. Activists say they are determined to deliver their message to council members, adding that if their demands are not met they plan to “take the matter to court.”

Robert Park is a student at UCLA. He says his parents run a small restaurant in Koreatown, adding they often complain about “business being difficult these days,” something they attribute to the fact that the concerns of Korean residents are often “not reflected in decisions taken by the council.”

Park adds that Koreatown, scarred by litter and graffiti and lacking public amenities, is “not a desirable place to live anymore.”
Yu-cheol Jin, a member of the Southern California Christian Association, was also at the meeting to demand, in his words, “justice and equality.”

That same sentiment was echoed by Gyu-seob Um, pastor for the Wilshire Christian Church. Um also noted that the population of Koreatown -- which lies in district 10 -- is 51 percent Black and 9 percent Asian.

“If the lines are redrawn to include District 13 (home to a large number of Filipinos and Thais), then the Asian population jumps to over 30 percent,” he said, adding the demands of Koreans in the district have “mostly fallen on deaf ears.”

Peter Park, with the Koreatown Senior Center, said he’s “lost trust” in Council President Wesson, who according to the Los Angeles Times raised one-third of some $84,000 in campaign contributions last year from the Korean community.

Councilmember Jan Perry of District 9 and Bernard Parks of District 8 were also at the meeting, along with members from the Thai, Latino and African American communities to show support for Korean demands.

Parks, who is African American, told reporters that he would “continue to support” the Korean community’s claims that the process behind the redrawing of legislative maps was unfair.

The City Council’s 15 members plan to hold a final vote on the matter this coming March 16, though with the ongoing controversy there is talk of pushing back the date.

Grace Yoo from the Korean American Coalition said, “I had a meeting with Eric Garcetti (of District 13) and Tom LaBonge (of District 4) to convey the community’s concerns.”

She says before the final vote, she intends to continue meeting with council members in order to ensure that the voices of Korean residents and businesses are heard.

“20 years ago, after the Los Angeles riots, the city refused to renew permits for Korean businesses,” says Byung-soo Min, an attorney who works closely with the Korean community. “A group of 11 business owners sued the city and eventually won,” he recalls, adding the same could happen this time around.

Koreatown Angry Over LA's Proposed Redistricting Plan

2012-02-14T10:10:00Z

A plan to redraw city council districts in Los Angeles is stirring tension in Koreatown.

Hundreds of Korean-Americans crowded a hearing at the Wilshire Ebell Theater recently to express anger and dismay that the city’s Citizens Redistricting Commission has proposed splitting Koreatown into two council districts.

"We’ll fight using any means to keep Koreatown whole," attorney James Beck said.

Beck expressed an oft-heard sentiment - that elected officials tap Koreatown business owners for political donations but refuse to give the area real political power.

“Our community will no longer sit idly and be pimped out like a two-dollar whore," he said.
Right now, four different council districts include parts of Koreatown. So the new map that splits the area into only two districts might be viewed as an improvement.

"Not really," Grace Yoo said. Yoo, who heads the Korean American Coalition said her community should have one council member to hold accountable for its needs.

“It means you can provide one staff person who speaks the language fluently and can assist the people to receive basic service needs," Yoo said. "Right now, people don’t know where to call or when they do call a city council persons office, it's sort of ‘oh, that Korean staffer isn’t here.'“

Yoo points out that voters have elected only one Asian-American to the L.A. City Council, and that placing Koreatown in one council district might help change that.

But Koreatown, which sits just west of downtown L.A., can be elusive. Yoo said that the city’s official boundaries don’t cover all of it – and that a council district must include all of the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council area and extend north to 3rd street.
That irks Raul Claros of a group called the Latino Coalition of Los Angeles. He prefers the smaller definition of Koreatown.

“They work there, they have businesses there, they build skyscrapers, they’ve reflected Koreatown to look like Korea. Ok great, fine," Claros said. “We’ve recognized an area. No one else has that. Central Americans don’t have that. Mexicans don’t have that.”

He said Latinos comprise the majority of the Koreatown area, and that he wants the city to designate one 14 square-block radius the Salvadoran Community Corridor.

Following the hearing, Claros started to explain his opposition to a wider definition of Koreatown to a Korean TV interviewer. Yoo tried to interrupt.

"That’s the type of disrespect that I’m talking about," Claros said. "For the record it's Grace Yoo disrespecting us."

The interaction reflects only one element of the tension over the new political maps.

“What I see in the lines that have been proposed is that we have no idea where they came from," Councilman Bernard Parks said.

The lines officially came from the city’s 21-member Citizens Redistricting Commission proposed the new political lines, but some see the handiwork of City Council President Herb Wesson. Analysts suggest that Wesson is punishing Parks, who opposed his election as president.

Parks would lose parts of the politically powerful black neighborhoods of Leimert Park and Baldwin Hills to Wesson, whose new district would also include wealthy Koreatown neighborhoods far to the north. Parks would end up representing faraway Westchester. That’s angered voters there.

"Its a power grab," Parks said. Wesson declined to comment on the proposed new redistricting map. His spokesman denied that his boss orchestrated the districts. Fernando Guerra of Loyola Marymount’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles isn’t so sure.

“I’m never surprised with what happens during redistricting," Guerra said. "It’s the most political process that the political system goes through.”

Under the proposal, Councilwoman Jan Perry - who also opposed Wesson’s ascension to president - would lose much of economically powerful downtown. That’s a blow to Perry, who is running for mayor. Guerra notes that she is termed out of office next year. He argues that it's a good time to more evenly divide downtown L.A..

At the hearing, one Korean-American quoted a famous president in suggesting that the new political boundaries should more closely represent what “the people” want.
“President Lincoln stated that the government should be of the people, by the people, for the people. And we are the people,” Guerra said.

But unlike the state’s new citizens redistricting commission, the city panel is only advisory. Members of the L.A. City Council - led by Herb Wesson - have the final word over their own political boundaries.
And on the 15-member council, eight votes decide the final redistricting lines.

Fil-Ams Worry Over Neighborhood in SF Redistricting

2012-02-06T19:15:00Z

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite the overwhelming support from the Filipino community, advocacy groups are uneasy about the final outcome of the ongoing redistricting of San Francisco’s District 11.

Redistricting of District 11 is more contentious because “it is where the Filipinos are more scattered,” says Bernadette Sy, executive director of the Filipino American Development Foundation and Bayanihan Community Center.

“In District 11, the Filipino population is over 10,000. That is a huge voting bloc, which we don’t want to lose. It is important to try to keep the Filipino community in that district, because that’s where you have the largest Filipino population in the city,” Sy rued.

Sy says they have mapped out the Filipino population centers, highlighting the district with the biggest concentration of Filipinos, and turned it in to the Task Force on Redistricting.

“We stand to lose some in District 11 because we are dispersed.” She conceded there are still a lot in the little areas, like the small area in Ocean View/Merced Heights/Ingleside (OMI), where there are 2,000 Filipinos that may be moved.

Proposed redistricting map in Boston falls on color lines

2012-01-27T21:27:48Z

A coalition of black, Latino and Asian organizations released a redistricting map Monday that seeks to radically redraw the city’s political boundaries and increase minority influence on the City Council.

The map proposes splitting Chinatown from South Boston’s District 2 and adding the neighborhood to a newly drawn District 8, which includes the South End and the Fenway. The map also calls for re-drawing Dorchester’s Districts 3 and 4, adding more black, Latino and Asian voters to District 3 and more whites to District 4.

Advocates say the redrawing would create four districts where people of color make up a clear majority of the voting age population, giving them a stronger voice on the council.

“Ever since City Council districts were established, there hasn’t been a lot of progress beyond two district councilors,” said Sean Daughtry, noting that the city now has a population that is 53 percent people of color. “Why doesn’t our council reflect that diversity? A lot of it has to do with the way the districts are drawn.”

Currently, Districts 4, 5 and 7 have a majority voting-age population. African American councilors have represented 4 and 7 since they were drawn in 1982. Robert Consalvo, who is white, represents Hyde Park’s District 5, which now has a voting age population that is more than 60 percent black and Latino.

But with the current district lines, people of color have had little success running in Dorchester’s District 3.

Daughtry points to District 4, now represented by Charles Yancey, which is 94 percent black and Latino.

“It’s a very stark example of packing,” he said, using a legal term that describes how minority voters are crammed into one district to dilute their strength in another.

Because so many of Dorchester’s black and Latino residents are in District 4 — most of which lies between Dorchester Avenue and Blue Hill Avenue — District 3, which mainly cleaves to the east of Dorchester Avenue — has a voting age population that is nearly 40 percent white.

The coalition’s map shifts the line between Districts 4 and 3 from its north-south axis to and east-west dividing line which runs roughly from the Freeport Street exit on 93 to the southern end of Franklin Park.

The lines of Roxbury’s District 7, Hyde Park’s District 5 and the West Roxbury/Jamaica Plain District 6 would remain mostly unchanged, as would Allston Brighton’s District 9 and District 1, which includes the North End, Charlestown and East Boston. Read more here.

APIs Urged to Let Voices Be Heard in Redistricting

2012-01-15T19:16:31Z

Whether Little Tokyo will remain in the 9th Council District or Koreatown will be united into one district will depend on the redrawn map of the Los Angeles City Council. A 21-member citizens commission is seeking input from the public and Asian Pacific Islanders are urged to get involved.

Several members of the Redistricting Commission attended a press conference on Wednesday in Little Tokyo, including Arturo Vargas, chair of the redistricting commission, and commissioners Robert Ahn, Helen B. Kim and David Roberts.

“Redistricting means many things, it means empowerment and having the opportunity to have an equal voice and equal representation,” said Kim, an attorney and board member of the Korean American Coalition.

Every 10 years Los Angeles City Council lines are redrawn to account for changes in the population as tabulated in the U.S. Census. The goal is to have equal population in each of the 15 districts. The new district map must also comply with the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Race cannot be used as a predominant factor in drawing district lines.

The 9th District, which includes Little Tokyo, is 8,629 residents over the ideal population and will need to shrink in order to comply with the city charter. At a Dec. 10 hearing, Little Tokyo representatives were vocal in their support for keeping the Japanese town intact and in the 9th district.

“It’s a historic ethnic neighborhood that’s been around for 125 years. It’s not too big, it’s rather small, said Bill Watanabe, executive director of the Little Tokyo Service Center. “I think our first request would be we keep it intact. We don’t want to be divided up into different districts.”

Councilmember Jan Perry, who is termed out of her council seat, said during the Dec. 10 meeting that when she was first elected in 2001, she was asked to move Little Tokyo from the 9th District to the 14th District. Read more here.

LA Voters' Political Voice Hangs on Redistricting Commission

2012-01-09T08:15:00Z

LOS ANGELES--Few people on the streets of Los Angeles are aware of a local process underway that could determine whether or not they have a voice at Los Angeles City Hall.

Commissioners Investing in Civic Engagement

LOS ANGELES—New America Media spoke with members of the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Committee about why they are volunteering their time in raising awareness about the redistricting process. Since December 5, the commission's 21 members have been holding separate public meetings in each of the city’s 15 districts and will hold their final meeting Tuesday, January 10. Commissioners will also tour the entire city of Los Angeles to experience each district, produce extensive draft maps, and hold 6 more public hearings before drawing a final map by March 1.

Antonio Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) , Chair of Los Angeles Redistricting Commission

I want a city that works. I want a city where people who live here believe that they have a full voice in the future of their neighborhoods.

Helen Kim, Assistant Vice President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association

I have been very involved in the Korean community in particular for over 15 years and I believe some of the frustrations that I’ve seen particularly after the 1992 riots and rebuilding of Korea Town, people have come finally around to realizing it is in part because of a lack of accountability and representation on the city council.

Robert Ahn, Attorney specializing in Real Estate Law

I can’t think of a more important issue at the community level than this redistricting process. This is a once in a decade process. The result of this redistricting is going to determine who represents your various communities and the surrounding communities as well.

David Roberts, Associate Director, University of Southern California’s Local Government Relations Office

I think part of it is engagement and that government can be good. There is a lot of cynicism out there… you can see it with the Occupy Movement. Folks think that deals are done to benefit a small few, and hopefully through our engagement process, we’re going to be very transparent, very public. My anticipation is that the public input we get at these hearings is actually what we use to build these maps and hopefully we encourage and our work translates to public confidence in the process.

The 21-member Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission, formed only once every 10 years, held a press briefing last week to boost public response to its efforts in redrawing the map of LA’s 15 City Council districts to reflect population changes since 2000.

Empowerment

“We are talking about empowerment and political representation,” said Redistricting Commissioner Helen B. Kim, a respected attorney, who is also the commission’s controller.

In Los Angeles, for example, the 2010 Census reveals that about half of the 15 districts have a Hispanic majority. Yet only four City Council members are of Latino heritage.

What’s more, with the current district mapping not one City Council member is from the Asian or Pacific Islander community, even though the 2010 Census shows that API residents make up 15 percent of the city’s population.

Not only must the newly drawn districts include about a quarter-million Los Angeles residents, to fit the interests of the city’s 3,792,671 residents, according to the 2010 Census, the final district maps will determine how well the City of Los Angeles serves key aspects of the quality of life in each section.

City Council representation determines such essential aspects affecting daily living as economic development, public safety, schools, transportation, senior services, small businesses, real estate property values—and attention to each area’s racial or ethnic makeup, such as by providing information in appropriate languages.

Kim, a leader of LA’s Korean American community, explained, “One of the most affected areas during the 1992 riots was Korea town and the area was being represented by four different council members.”

She continued, “ How can you assign responsibility when you have four people pointing fingers at each other? When a community is divided, like Koreatown is into four districts, they feel that their vote is being diluted.”

Local Issues, Not Race Issues

Although commissioners made it clear that race cannot be a factor in how they eventually draw the maps, Kim said communities, such as Little Tokyo, Chinatown and Koreatown, need to get involved in this process “to consolidate themselves as a political force with the capacity to elect a representative that will represent their interest in local issues, not race issues.” Koreatown, for example, currently lacks parks, affecting the quality of life for those who live and work there.

She emphasized that although the commissioners are well aware, for instance, that not only Chinese residents live in Chinatown or Japanese people in Little Tokyo, the public needs to respond to the commission’s outreach to ensure they're represented.

For example, Kim observed, “There is a growing Vietnamese population in Chinatown.”

The city established the independent, multicultural commission in 1999, to ensure citizens involvement in the political process, similar to the once-a-decade redistricting process used to determine state and federal election districts.

Commission Chair Arturo Vargas, emphasized, “We want to ensure that protected population groups such as Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans are not denied the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice by the way lines are drawn.”

He explained that the redistricting commission is completing its initial 15 district hearings this Tuesday and will then have preliminary maps drawn for public feedback at six additional hearings from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11. So far, he said, about 100 people have participated in each hearing.

The commission is staffing each meeting with interpreters and is providing written materials in Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, and Armenian. People unable to attend the meetings can also call or write with their responses or send them via the Internet.

Understanding How Lines Affect Lives

The commission will present its final report and maps to the Los Angeles City Council by March 1. The city has until July 1 to adopt a final and permanent map for the next 10 years.

Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, added that the commission must comply with the United States Constitution by guaranteeing that each district is of equal population and complies with the federal Voting Rights Act.

Also, Vargas said, prior to remapping the districts, “The commission is going to get on three buses to tour the city and look at areas that are most under contention in terms of how the lines are draw. This is all so that the commission really understands how lines affect the lives of people,” he stressed.

Redistricting Mobilizes San Francisco Filipinos

2012-01-05T09:00:00Z

SAN FRANCISCO—Worried over the potential erosion of political leverage, leaders from San Francisco’s Filipino community have been meeting to solidify their response to the upcoming redrawing of the city’s voting districts.

At stake is the electoral strength of the community, particularly in two areas—District 11 and District 6—where most of the city’s Filipinos reside. These districts are deemed “overpopulated” and must “give up” substantial numbers of residents to other electoral districts.

Filipinos numbering 34,347 make up nearly 5 percent of San Francisco’s 805,235 residents.

“There’s been a keen response from Filipino Americans, with more than fifty leaders attending our past two working meetings—it’s a pretty serious and committed group,” reports Marily Mondejar, president of the Filipino American Women’s Network. In a show of force, community leaders have formed a coalition to advocate for this effort, comprised of about a dozen Filipino-American organizations all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mayor Ed Lee appointed Mondejar to the nine-member Redistricting Task Force he created with the Board of Supervisors and the elections board. The task force must present a final plan outlining the new supervisorial district lines to the Board of Supervisors no later than April 15, 2012.

Mondejar says Filipino American leaders are fired up not only by the community’s stake in the redistricting process, but also by Mayor Ed Lee’s recent election in a race between three Asian candidates, as well as that of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. The rise of Asian Americans as a political force, she adds, has been “validating for the Filipino community.”

Some Filipino-American news media, many of which are based in the Bay Area, have joined in this call to action, including major broadsheet Asian Journal and 24/7 global news wire INQUIRER.net.

Asian Journal [AJ] ran the critical points of the coalition's press release regarding this series of forums, quoting the organizers as stressing that the strategy meetings and resulting recommendations will help "not split up the Filipino American community in San Francisco and thus silence the Filipino American voice."

The AJ Press report adds, organizers are specifically appealing to community members "who have expertise and knowledge in neighborhood mapping, census analysis, voter statistics and Filipino-American demographics" to attend the meetings scheduled through January and share vital insights.

INQUIRER.net's piece alerted Filipinos, especially San Francisco residents to the scheduled community outreach meetings of the SF Redistricting Task Force for both Districts 6 and 11 --- one slated on Monday, January 9th and the other on Saturday, January 21st; with more meetings running until March. The article cited the Fil-Am coalition's point that the community's participation in these meetings is crucial as it will "help lead to the adoption of redistricting plans that provide communities a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates who represent their interests on issues that are crucial to their daily lives and livelihoods."

Redistricting is the constitutionally mandated adjustment of local, state, and federal political boundaries following the U.S. census conducted every ten years. It is done to equalize the populations in the electoral districts, using various criteria, including: equal population, compliance with Sec. 2 of the Voting Rights Act, preserving recognized neighborhoods, and preserving communities of interest.

According to 2010 Census figures, San Francisco gained 28,502 residents from the previous count in 2000. The increase, however, was not uniform across the city’s 11 electoral districts, meaning that a redrawing of boundaries is needed to balance potential voting strengths.

Filipinos are especially worried about the redrawing of District 11, which must give up more than 6,000 residents to other districts.

Of the city’s Filipinos, 28 percent live in the district, comprising southern neighborhoods bordering Daly City -- Cayuga Terrace, Crocker Amazon, Excelsior, New Mission Terrace, Outer Mission and Ocean View/Merced Heights/Ingleside. It also has the most number of Filipino registered voters, with 10,361 —13 percent of its nearly 80,000 residents – comprising a substantial voting bloc that could play an important role in the election of the district’s supervisor.

District 6 is also deemed overpopulated and must give up 21,000 voters to other districts. Comprising the Tenderloin, South of Market (SOMA), North Mission, Civic Center, South Beach, Mission Bay, Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island and Downtown, District 6 also has a relatively large Filipino concentration.

Community leaders fear that plans to officially declare parts of SOMA a “Filipino Social-Heritage Special Use District” could be scuttled by the redistricting process.

Mondejar notes that Filipino American “working teams” have been set up and are working to draw proposed maps that could keep Filipino concentrations intact based on redistricting guidelines.

Other tasks include researching the majority-minority status of Filipinos in District 11, tracking evidence of Fil-Am neighborhoods that the city’s planning and elections authorities might recognize, monitoring citywide redistricting meetings and arguing for the community’s recommendations.

Additional reporting by Odette Keeley.

Redistricting Could Cut Caribbean American Voices

2011-11-08T21:30:09Z

Every ten years states get an opportunity to redraw their district lines based on the database of population flux and migration gleaned from the Census. Thus, political boundaries are now being redesigned to reflect the demographic shifts recorded in the 2010 Census. Mandated by the US Constitution, redistricting is meant to put political power in the hands of the people and ensure real community representation.

But some question the tactics used by political parties and incumbents seeking to get or keep control. Gerrymandering is one such method where districts are intentionally drawn to advantage one group or party over another. A clue that this has taken place is often the odd shape of the newly drawn district.

Cracking

“The collective power of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans -- the groups that are protected under the Voting Rights Act -- is somehow minimized by certain features of how electoral structures are created,” said Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel of Latino Justice PTLDEF, a group that advocates for the civil rights and civic participation of all Latinos.

‘Cracking’ is another example, said Cartagena, explaining “if you have a geographically compact community and that community is divided among electoral districts in multiple ways, then you are diluting that community’s strength. You have minimized the collective strength of a community that would have been the majority perhaps of one district, and now is a minority in multiple districts.”

While ‘cracking’ splits the community, ‘packing’, on the other hand, is a term used to describe the concentration of a community into a few redrawn political districts to create a majority, which diminishes its influence in surrounding areas.

Cartagena was speaking at a recent media roundtable event organized by New America Media that brought together advocates and activists under the banner ‘Fighting for the Minority Vote’.

“All minority communities want are representatives that respond to their needs, that protect them from abuse... that represent their interests and make sure they get their fair share of the resources”, said Cartagena.

The Latino Justice President also noted that although the 2010 Census confirmed a huge jump in the Hispanic population nationwide, its political power in many districts, including those in Florida, remains mediocre at best. In fact, according to the US Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2010 this group increased by 15.2 million, a whopping 43 percent growth and four times the growth in the total population. Based on these numbers, Cartagena wants to make sure Latinos, and other growing minority communities, get involved in the redistricting process to ensure fair representation.

Fight

Caribbean Americans, African Americans and other minority groups are also fighting to get their share of the resources and a stronger political voice through Congressional representatives of their choice. However, the ability to make choices means being active participants in the state’s redistricting process, said Leon Russell, Vice Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the NAACP.

“Redistricting in and of itself is about power, control, and influence... Since time immemorial when folks were drawing district lines, when they were determining where and how to distribute power, they have done it in order to enhance their own ability to control,” said the NAACP executive. “And so you draw lines that benefit your particular group, whether it’s a particular party, whether it’s you as an individual .You do so to maintain your power.”

Complex

Badili Jones, an activist and political alliance officer for the Miami Workers Center, added that Florida is complex when it comes to redistricting.

“It’s not simply about race and it’s not simply about language... Particularly in Miami-Dade, ethnicity is more important than race in terms of people’s day-to-day experiences. But the people that are drawing the lines don’t necessarily take that into account.”

Jones lashed out at the states’ political system for what he termed prison-based gerrymandering that counts prisoners in the state where they are incarcerated, not where they originally resided. This tactic ensures resources and representation are kept within the district where the prison is located.

The growing Haitian community, particularly in Miami-Dade county, also feel sidelined in the political process when it comes to the drawing of political districts that represent their interests.

Jean-Robert Lafortune, President of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, told the group that the Haitian community has no representation, although in two of the thirteen Miami-Dade districts Haitians account for 30 and 15 percent.

To tackle the inequity, the Coalition created a redistricting task force that meets with the community and is looking to submit their own map that takes into consideration both numbers and representational seats.

Ouster of AZ Redistricting Chair Discourages Latino Voters

2011-11-08T14:59:43Z

PHOENIX — Landscaper Manuel Chavez was tilling the soil and pruning trees at his client's yard in Scottsdale, Arizona last week when he learned that Gov. Jan Brewer had called for the impeachment of the top official for the state’s independent redistricting commission.

While he admitted that he hadn't followed all the issues surrounding redistricting, Chavez, 43, said he was more concerned about lawmakers changing something that the people voted for.

"What's the point of voting if politicians can come up with ideas and divert policies to make them the way they want it to be?" said Chavez, who runs his own landscaping and gardening business. "It makes the election process useless -- and frustrating."

Chavez was referring to the state senate’s decision last Tuesday to oust Colleen Mathis, chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), who Brewer accused of “gross misconduct in office” while urging fellow GOP lawmakers to impeach her.

Echoing the sentiments of a number of voters across Arizona, Chavez says there are far more important issues that lawmakers should be focusing on. "Look at what's going on with our economy,” he says. “It's going down the tube while our politicians continue to bicker.”

The Grand Canyon State's redistricting process has devolved into chaos following Mathis’ impeachment, which has set off a legal firestorm. Both Mathis and the IRC have filed a lawsuit claiming that the governor violated the terms of her office by putting undue pressure on the state senate to "concur in her decision to remove commissioners from office."

The IRC was established in 2000 after Arizona voters passed Proposition 106, an initiative that amended the state's Constitution by transferring the power to draw congressional and legislative districts away from the state legislature.

In its place, the IRC -- consisting of two Republicans, two Democrats and an independent chairwoman – was tasked with drawing districts based on, among other factors, census results, the federal Voting Rights Act, district shape, community interest, and potential competitiveness.

Brewer described draft versions of the IRC’s new maps adopted last month as "fundamentally flawed" and biased in favor of Democrats.

"This move to kick Mathis out has created a growing sentiment among voters that their political voice is being under-valued," said Luis Avila, president of Somos America, a coalition of immigrants rights groups. "People here are showing less and less interest in the political process — and they feel that their votes don't really matter."

Arizona ranked 43rd in the nation for voter turnout (59.8 percent) in the 2008 presidential election, according to a 2010 report conducted by Arizona Civic Health Index. The number marks a four-percentage point decline from the 2004 election. Similarly, the 2009 Gallup Arizona Poll found that only 10 percent of Arizona voters believe that elected officials represent their interests.

"Losing trust in the democratic process will become problematic, as Arizona may see a much lower voting turnout in the 2012 elections," Avila added, noting that after passage of SB 1070, which became the blueprint for anti-immigrant laws in several other states, Latino voters began “contemplating not participating in the elections.” Mathis' impeachment, he says, “makes the situation worse."

The Supreme Court has yet to decide on Mathis’ impeachment, putting the once-in-a-
decade redistricting process in limbo.

"That’s the million-dollar question, what's going to happen next," said Stuart Robinson, public information officer and spokesman for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. "We're hoping to have a decision soon, but we just have to wait and see."

While public hearings on congressional and legislative maps are still being held, Robinson said the court's ruling could determine whether or not the IRC will scrap the
draft maps and start again from scratch.

"No one knows how things will play out," Robinson said. “If the Supreme Court's ruling comes down in favor of Brewer and the state Senate, who knows if anyone would want to take Mathis' job?"

Some in the community, however, are optimistic that Mathis will retain her job.

“I’m confident that the Supreme Court will overturn her impeachment,” said Linda Brown, executive director of Arizona Advocacy Network. “Public opinion is overwhelmingly against the governor’s action. Many say, ‘what part of independence do they not understand?’ People here are extremely outraged.”

Arizona voters, Brown added, are aware that Brewer’s move to impeach Mathis is blatantly political and aimed at “disrupting the independent process that the public instituted.”

For Chavez, the clash over redistricting reflects the larger trend of partisan bickering amid an economic frefall.

“Politicians fight over redistricting maps, trying to secure more Republican or Democratic votes,” he says. “All I want is to be able to provide for my family.”

California Redistricting Maps Show Drop in GOP Support

2011-11-03T17:10:18Z

LOS ANGELES -- Editors of La Opinión argue that it was political extremism, not gerrymandering, that led to the drop in support for the Republican Party in California that was reflected in the state's newly drawn redistricting maps.

"Not everyone was satisfied with the recent redistricting process," editors write. "Latinos, for instance, do not have enough Hispanic-majority districts to reflect the group’s growth in the past decade."

The California Supreme Court recently rejected a lawsuit filed by the Republican Party that argued that redistricting had negatively impacted the GOP, especially in state Senate seats.

"During the last 10 years, the GOP’s influence, unlike the number of Latinos, has been decreasing in California," the editorial notes. "State elections have reflected this trend, which Republicans themselves are responsible for because they assumed positions that are far from those of most Californians, such as regarding immigration. The obstructionist stance Republican lawmakers have taken in Sacramento has not helped improve the party’s image either."

"We think Republicans could recover the political ground they have lost in this state if they are more in tune with Californians’ way of thinking, rather than assuming extreme, inflexible positions," the editorial concludes. "Extremism has led the GOP to lose support. This drop is noticeable in the redistricting map."

Immigrant Rights Group Sues Wisconsin Over Redistricting Map

2011-11-03T00:48:24Z

MILWAUKEE--A Wisconsin immigrant rights group is suing the state's Government Accountability Board over a new redistricting map that they say dilutes the power of the Latino vote. Voces de la Frontera filed a lawsuit on Oct. 31, alleging that Wisconsin's newly-approved legislative redistricting map deprives the Latino community on Milwaukee's south side of an effective voting majority in the 8th Assembly district.

"As a result of the redistricting plan, Latino citizens have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice to the Legislature of Wisconsin," the lawsuit states.

The suit argues that the new map violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which "precludes the State of Wisconsin from minimizing the opportunities for minority groups, including Latino citizens, to participate in the political process."

Voces Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz said the Latino population on Milwaukee’s south side had increased by 44 percent, and was now large enough to support a legislative district with a majority of voting age Latinos. The state's new redistricting plan, however, reduces that potential majority to just over 40 percent.

"This dilution of the growing voting influence of Latinos in our state, along with new voter ID requirements," Neumann-Ortiz said, "represents an effort to turn back our state policies to a racist Jim Crow era, which disenfranchised people of color and poor whites from the political process."

Arizona Latinos at Center of Redstricting Process

2011-10-20T08:00:00Z

PHOENIX -- Minorities, and Latinos in particular, have a lot at stake in Arizona’s ongoing redistricting process, which has again thrust the state into the center of a national debate over immigration, voting rights, and the political power of minority communities.

Since 2000, Arizona’s population grew by some 26 percent, according to the latest census figures from last year. Latinos accounted for nearly 40 percent of the increase, though they remain a relatively insignificant presence within the state Legislature. Advocates say that it is precisely at the state level where Latinos stand to win or lose the most.

“This process will determine the distribution of power for the next 10 years,” said Linda Brown, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network, a non-profit organization that works to promote electoral justice.

Brown was part of a panel of ethnic media members organized by New America Media to discuss the impact of the redistricting process and what is at stake for Latinos and other minority groups.

Minority-Majority Districts

In 2000, Arizona voters created the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), composed of two Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent. The commission is charged with redrawing political maps every 10 years, and with the recent demographic shifts, the decision was made to add a ninth district to the eight that currently exist. A 30-day public comment period was opened earlier this month seeking input on draft maps put forward by the commission. Residents have until Nov. 5 to make their voices heard.

IRC Vice President and Commissioner José Herrera said during the panel discussion that public opinion would be considered when drawing up the final map. He also dismissed criticisms coming from both Republicans and Democrats, who accuse each other of hijacking the process for political gain.

That became clear when the state’s Republicans lined up to denounce the draft version of the map, led by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who called them “a travesty” and "gerrymandering at its worst.” Arizona currently has two solidly Republican districts, one Democrat, and three acknowledged by the commission as competitive.

Commissioners begin with a grid-like map of the state that they then alter to create districts with equal numbers of residents. The IRC is required to abide by the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects the influence of minority voters through the creation of “minority-majority” districts. Members are also expected to create competitive districts, where either a Democrat or Republican stands a chance to win.

How to distribute the growth of Latinos so as to empower this sector and create more minority-majority districts is a key question, explained John Loredo, a political analyst and former minority Democratic leader at the state Legislature.

Loredo said that he is concerned Hispanic voters may not gain as much political clout due to a push by Democrats for more competitive districts, which in his view could dilute the Latino vote.

“There has to be a way for both competitive districts and minority voting rights to peacefully coexist,” said Loredo, who also noted that Latino voters are responsible for most of the growth in Democratic Party membership in the last few years.

“You got the Democratic Party that is desperately trying to low ball Latino numbers, because that gives them the ability to cut Latinos into other districts that makes them more competitive from a Democratic point of view,” he said in an interview after the forum.

Loredo argues the focus should first be to establish minority-majority districts that empower Latinos before trying to create competitive districts, but not the other way around. “When politicians realize that we’re a valuable swing vote, they will start to court our vote.”

As an example, he cites the current recall election against Senator Russell Pearce, the architect of SB 1070, which preceded a slew of anti-immigrant legislation appearing in states across the country. While Latinos are only a small fraction of registered voters, they are perceived as an important swing vote that could shift the outcome of the election in favor of Pearce’s opponent, Jerry Lewis.

Some minority groups say the current redistricting maps look favorable.

Leonard Gorman, executive director of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, said during the panel that this time around they are “happy to move with the maps presented.” Navajos, who make up 4.8 percent of the population, have long struggled to defend their cultural integrity when it comes to redistricting.

Gorman agreed that competitiveness is not as significant as ensuring that communities of interest are preserved and that the Voting Rights Act is respected.

Arizona has a long history of discrimination against minorities, said Oscar Tillman, president of Maricopa County’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Tillman pointed to a pending lawsuit filed by the Arizona Attorney General, Tom Horne, who is seeking to overturn of the Voting Rights Act. (A similar suit is also pending in Alabama.)

He also noted that regulations requiring voters to show ID at the polls remain an obstacle for minorities, as do attempts to include prison populations in districts where detention centers are located, since detainees are unable to vote.

Bipartisan Discontent

On Tuesday, a group of Republican legislators announced the creation of the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting that would make recommendations to the IRC.

“The primary responsibility of the IRC is to protect communities of interest and they have failed to do that,” said Senate President Russell Pearce in a written statement. “In far too many places neighborhoods that have nothing in common have been drawn into the same district.”

What concerns Pearce and other Republican legislators is the creation of districts in which they will have to face other incumbents.

Pearce is facing a recall election Nov. 8 in District 18. But even if he manages to keep his job under the proposed redistricting map, Pearce will end up in the same district as Republican Rich Crandall, a critic of Pearce’s harsh anti-immigrant stance.

Frustrations with the IRC are not limited to one side of the aisle, however, a sign for some that the commission is doing its job.

“The legislative draft map adopted today by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission lacks competitive districts and is a giant step backward, as drawn. Without more competition, extremists will continue to get elected and will discourage Independent voters from having any say in Arizona's future,” said Luis Heredia, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Taking a more positive view, Linda Brown with Arizona Advocacy Network said having an independent commission allows ordinary citizens to participate in a process traditionally dominated by vested political interests. She added that political parties often use “communities of color as a smoke screen” to consolidate power.

Given its history of disenfranchising minority voters, Arizona is among nine states that must receive pre-clearance from the Department of Justice before making any changes to election laws, including redistricting.

“It is important for voters of color to get involved in the [redistricting] process,” said Brown. “This gives us an opportunity because the DOJ will look at it."

Ethnic Media Convening Breaks Down Florida’s Complex Redistricting Process

2011-10-09T02:20:00Z

Spanish Translation

Members of South Florida’s ethnic media gathered in Miami Oct. 6 to hear about the complexities of “compactness, contiguity, and communities of interest” — the defining principles of redistricting.

The entire country is in the midst of the once-a-decade process that sets the political boundaries for everything from Congressional districts to school board and water management districts. The Miami meeting was the eighth such briefing that New America Media has conducted nationwide.

About 20 reporters, editors and publishers — from small tabloids, online publications, television networks and traditional newspapers — heard about the history of redistricting and the complexities of trying to ensure some sense of fairness in the process.

“Beauty matters,” panelist Juan Cartagena, president and general counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said, referring to “compactness,” one of the three things courts examine to determine the legality of a district. Compactness refers to a desire to avoid serpentine, irregular-shaped districts.

“Districts that look nice usually get approved,” Cartagena said. “Districts that look weird are suspect.”

Another defining term, “contiguity,” means that any part of a district cannot be geographically separated from the rest. And “communities of interest” refers to keeping together groups with similar self-interests. Depending on the community, they could be tied together by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or geography.

“In Miami, ethnicity is more important than race,” pointed out Badili Jones of the Miami Workers Center and Florida New Majority.

It’s easy to imagine how just those three goals could create conflicts and complexities.

Redistricting is at least partially instructed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits any voting practice that has a discriminatory effect. And in Florida, redistricting is further complicated by the Fair Districts Amendments, which voters passed last year.

Amendments 5 and 6 stipulate that new districts not favor, or punish, a particular candidate or party and that districts follow natural geography whenever possible. It’s an attempt to prevent the political manipulation, or gerrymandering, of districts by state lawmakers who often have interests in how the districts are drawn.

“Redistricting is about power, control and influence,” said Leon Russell, legislative chair of the Florida NAACP and vice chairman of the national NAACP’s board of directors. “The question we have to answer is: How do we gain some of the influence, some of the power, and at least a little a little bit of the control?”

One of the concerns expressed by speakers was that, although lawmakers held redistricting town hall meetings throughout the state, they did not reveal any maps that may be under consideration. They also did not speak or offer any opinions at the meeting — something that data expert John Garcia of LatinoJustice called “an official, or unofficial, gag order.”

With the end of the statewide tour by legislators, and so much focus on Congressional districts, voters may not realize that the redistricting process continues for an array of other districts. Redistricting is about more than just Congressional districts.

“Redistricting touches everything all the way down to the water management board,” Cartagena said. “Miami-Dade (County Public) Schools have not even started their redistricting process.”

Floridians can obtain redistricting information online at floridaredistricting.org.

GOP’s Texas Redistricting Targets Latino Voting Potential

2011-10-08T01:40:00Z

HOUSTON – In Texas and other states with increasing Latino populations, “HCVAP” is likely to become the most dominant political acronym in the current redistricting process and likely throughout the 2012 presidential election cycle.

The surge in the Latino population between the 2000 and 2010 Census has enabled eight states to expand the size of their Congressional delegations, and others to at least retain the seats despite lower or stagnant growth among other ethnic groups. Texas, the largest Congressional block after California’s 53 members, heads the list, adding four new seats to its current 32 due to the increase of Latinos. Florida adds two seats for the same reason.

But in Texas, understanding that the Hispanic Citizen Voting Age Population is approximately only half of the Hispanic population, helps explain the relatively low voter turnout of Latinos compared to other groups.

“We don’t talk about that enough in the media,” said Greg Wyeth, senior redistricting initiative consultant, Outreach Strategists, in remarks to members of Houston’s ethnic media who assembled there under the auspices of New America Media. Wyeth said the public discourse of low Latino turnout in Texas elections often turns into a “blame game” of “why don’t Hispanics vote” rather than a dispassionate analysis of the numbers.

Republicans, however, who dominate the state’s legislature, and are therefore currently responsible for drawing the new maps, have a keen appreciation of Latino demographics, so much so that the state’s initial reapportionment proposals have drawn adverse reactions from the U.S. Department of Justice and the courts for lack of compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), explained to media attendees his organization had just won a September court victory against the Texas-proposed map of House districts. MALDEF had alleged that the state had discriminated against Latino voters through various techniques, including carving up districts in ways deemed illegal under VRA’s Section II (a permanent provision that applies to all states). The court agreed.

In Nueces County, for example, which has three Latino-dominant House districts, the legislature’s plan eliminated the smaller one. “It went gone,” Figueroa said. “We drew it orange, so we sometimes would call it Nemo,” referring to the lost fish who was the object of his father’s search in an animated movie. “Where did Nemo go? We lost Nemo,” said Figueroa of MALDEF ‘s reaction to the legislature’s new map which split or “cracked” Nemo; then moved or “packed” those voters into other districts.

Sometimes, Figueroa said, illegal voter dilution tactics violate both Section II and V of the VRA, the latter being the statutes that require specific states, Texas among them, to seek permission from DOJ before making changes to voting procedures or to its voting district maps. Section V disallows states from making voting conditions worse for affected groups covered by the statute. DOJ has initially ruled that Texas can move forward with its Texas Senate and state board of education maps, but has not granted permission on the Texas Congressional map or Texas House map which, among other Latino targets, deep-sixed Nemo.

Texas, however, has also filed a court challenge against DOJ’s initial ruling, setting the stage for what will sure to be another acrimonious chapter in the state’s redistricting history.

Caroll Robinson, a law professor at Texas Southern University, said it is important to understand that the overarching Republican premise is to hold on to the status quo, an Anglo-Republican dominated political system. This goal, he contended, is consistent with the state’s Confederate and Civil Rights era history of obstructing minority rights. Even the DOJ approved plans for the state senate and board of education, upon close examination, Robinson argued, are weighted toward that objective. But he also encouraged minorities to get out of their silos and find means to cooperate to achieve parity in political empowerment.

Carroll’s vision of minority-coalition politics was shared by Rogene G. Calvert, director, Texas Asian American Redistricting Initiative, who also spoke out against the Texas House plan. For one, a Democratic Asian-American statehouse member, Hubert Vo, will fall victim to the inevitable partisanship of the redistricting process should the GOP- proposed lines be allowed to stand. She said the new map folds only a few precincts of Vo’s district into one predominant with constituents of an Anglo Democratic colleague, almost surely guaranteeing Vo’s loss in a head-to-head election where he has no base.

Though the Texas Asian-American has grown since the 2000 Census in and around Austin, Dallas, and particularly in Houston, the community is still only a small percentage of the populace. Yet, under the VRA, Asian-Americans do constitute “communities of interest,” sharing commonalities like language or other cultural affinities and they also are beginning to achieve electoral success, at the city council level in Houston, for example, by working with other ethnic communities. “Coalition politics is going to be the wave of the future,” Calvert said, “where we minorities work together more so that we can elect candidates of our choice.”

The symposium speakers noted that one reason coalition politics will become so critical for ethnic minority communities is that housing patterns are changing. As communities become more integrated and ethnic populations more diffuse, it will be far more difficult for them to achieve the 50 percent critical mass that enables them, under the VRA, to demand that lines be redrawn to reflect their numerically dominant status. And, as Figueroa noted, “bad case law” requiring that ethnic communities demonstrate that their numbers have reached a critical mass of voting age population will be a high hurdle to meet, especially in Texas. Not only is a large percentage of the Latino community “under the age of 18,” he said, but “we also have a significant non-citizen population.”

The current dissection of the Texas Latino population -- should it continue to trend Democratic-- minimizes the impact of their demographic growth as districts may well remain without a sufficient HCVAP to challenge Republican incumbency.

Houston Councilmember Melissa Noriega, who hosted symposium, thanked New America Media for shining light on the topic, said, “The choices to create districts that are packed and cracked, so that people get elected no matter what, has created this bastion of polarization that I think has damaged our country.”

Robinson, however, said ethnic communities in Texas -- already one of the country’s four minority-majority states -- have options, and to remember that the goal is to provide communities with the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, not necessarily one who is of their ethnic group. By pursuing coalition politics, “demographics is on our side,” Robinson said. “So somewhere between now and mid-decade, if we do the things we need to do, in terms of voter participation, voter education, voter registration, we have the ability to win some of these districts outright, and redistricting will take care of itself.”

Should the Latino community embrace that vision, it is unlikely that Nemo will be lost again in the foreseeable future.