On April 23, 2019, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring intent to transition from at-large councilmember elections to district-based elections pursuant to Elections Code section 10010.  The City Council held the two initial public hearings to receive community input regarding district boundaries for district-based elections on June 25 and July 9, 2019.

Staff recommends that the City Council conduct a third public hearing to solicit community input on draft district maps and election sequencing for district-based elections.  Staff further recommends the City Council select two to four “focus” maps the Council prefers, and that the Council provide any direction regarding map revisions or new maps.

On March 15, 2019, the City received a letter from MALDEF alleging a violation of the CVRA and demanding that the City move to district-based elections for the City Council (the “Demand Letter”). The City currently has an at-large election system whereby voters throughout the entire City choose each of the four councilmembers, as well as the mayor. If the City utilized by-district elections, the City would be physically divided into four separate districts, with each district represented by one councilmember who resides in that district and is selected only by voters of that district.

On April 23, 2019, the City adopted a resolution declaring intent to transition from at-large elections to district-based elections pursuant to Elections Code section 10010. Pursuant to the California Voting Rights Act (the “CVRA”), within 90 days of passing the resolution of intention, the City must hold five public hearings to draw district maps, adopt an ordinance, and transition to district elections. This 90-day period may be extended to 180 days with the consent of MALDEF. The City and MALDEF executed an agreement providing the City with 180 days to complete this transition process.

The process to transition from at-large councilmember elections to district based councilmember elections is established by Elections Code section 10010. The City held two initial public hearings to receive input on the composition of the district maps on June 25 and July 9, 2019.  Members of the public also had the option of submitting proposed maps to the City for consideration.

The process for transitioning to district-based elections requires the City Council to  hold a third public hearing at which draft maps and a proposed sequencing of elections for each district are considered, and public input is received.  As of August 6, 2019, the City Clerk’s office received six (6) draft maps dividing the City into four districts from members of the public. Based on these submitted maps, the City’s demographer, National Demographic Corporation (“NDC”), prepared five draft maps that include the relevant demographic data for each district (two of the six submitted maps were substantially the same). In addition, NDC also produce two additional draft district maps to present additional options to the City Council.  The draft maps also include sequences of elections for City Council consideration.   On August 6, 2019 the official draft district maps prepared by NDC and submitted maps from members of the public were made available on the City’s website at https://www.unioncity.org/251/Election-Information.

The goal of the NDC maps is to start the discussion by providing a set of significantly different maps that show a range of options, not “the best” map. Over the course of the third and fourth public hearings, all maps will be discussed, narrowed down to “focus” maps, and potentially revised. If the City Council is prepared at the conclusion of the fourth public hearing on September 9, 2019 to  designate its preferred map, the City Council may introduce an ordinance to adopt the preferred map, and adopt that ordinance at a fifth public hearing. 

The public may continue to provide input, as well as submit proposed district maps. However, state law requires that all draft district maps must be available to the public at least seven days prior to consideration at a public hearing. The final selected map must also be published seven days prior to adoption by City Council. Therefore, the next deadline for members of the public to submit draft district maps prior to the fourth public hearing will be Friday August 30.

 Criteria for Creating District Maps

Federal law requires that city council election districts comply with the Federal Voting Rights Act and avoid using race as a predominate factor in drawing district lines. In addition, the districts shall contain nearly equal total populations, although small population deviations are allowed. Specifically, the total population of the largest and smallest districts cannot vary by more than ten percent of the ideal district population size. Although up to ten percent deviations in population are allowed, the best practice is to keep any population differences within five percent.

In addition, the City Council may wish to consider “traditional redistricting principles” in creating the district maps. These principles represent goals, rather than requirements, and the City will ultimately need to select the final district map that best balances these often competing goals. Traditional redistricting principles include:

• Respect for communities of interest;
• Compact and contiguous districts;
• Districts that follow major visible features such as rivers or major roads; and
• Consideration of planned future growth areas is allowed, but not required.

The definition of a community of interest is very flexible, as long as race is not the predominate factor in that definition. Some communities of interest may request to be divided by district boundary lines, which may dilute their ability to elect one favored candidate in each district that divides them. However, in exchange, dividing communities of interest may give the community a direct connection to multiple councilmembers instead of only one councilmember.

 Sequence of Elections

Under the current at-large system, all voters in the City vote every two years to select the councilmember positions that are vacant that election year. With the change to by-district elections, each voter will only vote once every four years for an individual to represent the district in which the voter lives. In addition to establishing district maps, the City Council must also decide the sequence in which each district will select its councilmember. No current councilmember’s term may be cut short. Accordingly, in November 2020, only one of the four council districts will elect a councilmember (the mayor will also be selected at this election). The other three districts will elect a councilmember in 2022. 

There are no direct costs associated with the City Council conducting a public hearing to solicit community input on draft district maps and election sequencing for district-based elections.

Kristopher J. Kokotaylo, City Attorney

Alex Mog, Deputy City Attorney