Redistricting is coming up soon

July 1, 2021 — The 2020 census has come to a close, and now it’s time to think about redistricting. The final census numbers will probably be available by the end of September, and the county has until December 15th to readjust the borders of the supervisorial districts to reflect population changes. Each district is supposed to have roughly the same number of people, to ensure equal representation. The Board of Supervisors will decide later this month which method to use for the redistricting effort, but it’s likely to be a mixture of experienced county staff and members of the public. Paula Cohen is a member of the League of Women Voters, which is working to make sure the required public meetings are actually accessible to people with varying work schedules and linguistic backgrounds. She acknowledges that everything is pretty undecided right now, since the census numbers aren’t in yet, the board has not yet acted, and there is still some caution about having in-person meetings. The League of Women Voters’ position on redistricting includes protection from diluting the voting strength of a racial or linguistic minority and not allowing the goal of protecting incumbents or preferential treatment of one political party. You can find out more at their website, www.lwvmendo.org. The organization is focusing on redistricting at the local and national levels, and is open to everyone.