Redistricting provides an opportunity to shift power in Orange County at all levels of government. Starting in early 2021, OCCET is engaging in robust local organizing, research, mapping, and advocacy around redistricting with the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CCRC), Orange County Board of Supervisors, and a number of city councils, school boards, and water boards countywide.
To ensure a progressive community voice in the redistricting process, OCCET established the People’s Redistricting Alliance, a multiracial coalition of community-based organizations and residents countywide. Centering the lived experiences and needs of low-income communities and working families, we will pursue maps and other redistricting outcomes that maximize opportunities for year-round organizing, policy advocacy, and narrative shifts that advance the progressive transformation of Orange County.
What is redistricting?
Redistricting is the process by which legislative district boundaries are re-drawn to reflect changes in population. Occurring every ten years after the census, it presents an opportunity to increase community voice in government and participation in the electoral process.
People’s Redistricting Alliance
We are joined by the following Table Partners and alliance members:
- American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
- AHRI Center
- Arab American Civic Council
- California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
- Council on American-Islamic Relations – Los Angeles
- Latino Health Access
- Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance
- Orange County Congregation Community Organization
- Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development
- Orange County Environmental Justice
- Orange County Voter Information Project
- Pacific Islander Health Partnership
- Resilience Orange County
- South Asian Network
- VietRISE
We welcome community organizations interested in getting involved in redistricting in Orange County! Please fill out this form or email us at redistricting@occivic.org
- Redistricting could split Latino vote in Orange
With new census data in hand, Orange leaders have begun the once-a-decade process of adjusting voting boundaries, but some residents are concerned the existing district representing the El Modena neighborhood and communities west of the 55 Freeway could be split up, possibly diluting the voice of the Latino residents in the area. – OC Register - Our guide to redistricting: Ten years of twists and turns and a wild, rushed finish
The latest redrawing session follows a decade of ambitious voter reforms, seismic changes to the legal landscape, demographic shifts that have rearranged political power and a pandemic that has condensed and complicated the timeline for completing redistricting on-time. – LA Times - OC’s new districts shuffle incumbents
With Katie Porter shifting to a coastal district, questions about plans for Michelle Steel, Young Kim and Harley Rouda linger. - Language Requirements for Election Materials
The U.S. Census Bureau identifies the specific language groups for states and county jurisdictions, based on census information, every 5 years. The latest Section 203 determination was December 8, 2021. - Census Releases VRA S.203 Determinations
The U.S. Census Bureau released a list of 331 jurisdictions (counties and minor civil divisions) across the nation and three states that are required under the Voting Rights Act to provide language assistance during elections. - Orange County Residents’ Voting Power Just Got Reshaped for Next Decade
County Supervisors pick a new elections map keeping Costa Mesa in the coastal district, a move advocated by many community groups. But some Republican supervisors fear the move favors Democrats. – Voice of OC - OC supervisors reconfigure voting districts for next decade
The redrawn districts will affect 2022 elections, when three of the board’s five seats will be on the ballot, and create a district with a Latino majority. – OC Register - O.C. supervisors set to approve majority Latino district amid allegations of gerrymandering
The Orange County Board of Supervisors appears poised to select a map that creates a majority Latino district for the first time while also giving influence to Asian voters as a once-in-a-decade redistricting process moves closer to completion. – LA Times - Orange County hasn’t had a Latino supervisor in more than a decade. Will redistricting change that?
Nearly a third of Orange County residents are Latino, but the powerful Board of Supervisors has not had a Latino member in 15 years. – LA Times
