Item 32 - Redistricting Process for Ward Boundaries

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Redistricting Process for Ward Boundaries September 7, 2021 Page 3 the redistricting public review process. A good faith effort satisfies the requirement and includes: • Providing information to media organizations that provide City news coverage, including media organizations that serve language minority communities. • Providing information through local community groups and organizations (including those active in language minority communities, those that are based on good government, civil rights, or civic engagement, and those that have requested to be notified concerning City redistricting). • Additionally, the City is required, upon request, to conduct the public hearings with live translation in "an applicable language" (which for Santa Ana are Spanish and Vietnamese languages). The City is required to publish information regarding draft maps and the redistricting process on the City's website. These publications are required to notify the public of upcoming hearings and explain the process, and to be maintained for at least ten years after the redistricting process is completed. The redistricting process must be completed, and a new ward boundary map must be adopted no later than April 17, 2022. Overview of Substantive Requirements for Redistricting Boundary Lines The substantive requirements of the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions ("FAIR MAPS") Act for drawing ward boundaries are set forth in California Elections Code Section 21621, as summarized below. These legal requirements are identical to the requirements the City used when drawing the existing ward boundaries of Councilmember Wards 1 through 6: • Substantially equal population of residents (+/- 10%) in each ward based on census data. • Compliance with the Constitutions of the United States and California, and with the Federal Voting Rights Act ("FVRA"). These criteria are satisfied by developing wards that have substantially equal populations, are not designed with discriminatory intent, and are not designed with race as the predominant consideration. • Geographically contiguous, to the extent practicable. A ward is not contiguous if it includes areas that: a) meet only at the point of adjoining corners; or b) are separated by water and not connected by a bridge. • Geographic integrity of any local neighborhood or local community of interest shall be respected in a manner that minimizes its division, to the extent practicable. A "community of interest" is a population that shares common social or economic interests that should be included within a single ward for purposes of its effective and fair representation. • Boundaries should be easily identifiable and understandable by residents. To the extent practicable, wards shall be bounded by natural and artificial barriers, by streets, or by the boundaries of the City.