Stanislaus County leaders choose a map that sets the new boundaries for elections
Stanislaus County leaders chose a new map Monday for electing county supervisors that creates one district packed with a strong Latino voting majority while keeping historic political boundaries intact.
County staff will incorporate the boundaries in an ordinance for approval at a final public hearing next Monday.
In a unanimous vote at a special meeting, the county Board of Supervisors chose Map No. 3, which will expand Supervisor Channce Condit’s district out from Ceres to include Empire and Keyes and keep the west side cities of Patterson and Newman in his district.
The map is recommended by the 11-member advisory redistricting committee and county staff and legal advisers. It will boost the population of eligible Latino voters to 54.09% in District 5.
Attorneys informed the county in mid-November about possible exposure to voting rights litigation if the new boundaries were to dilute the Latino voting population. The legal opinion spurred efforts to give at least one district a strong Latino voter majority.
If approved next week, the new map will set the boundaries for the June primary election and additional county elections through 2030.
County supervisors gave some consideration to Maps 4 and 5, which proposed placing territory in western Stanislaus County in Supervisor Terry Withrow’s District 3. But those two maps were not supported by the board majority.
Supervisor Mani Grewal said he worked on Map 4 to increase the Latino voting population in his district and get more Modesto territory into his district. Grewal’s District 4 seat primarily represents Modesto on the board and is up for election in 2022.
Withrow said he saw merit in Maps 4 and 5 to meet the criteria of the Voting Rights Act and other laws that govern the redistricting process every 10 years. His seat also comes up for election next year.
Withrow noted that Map 5, proposing to include Grayson, Diablo Grande and Newman in his district, would increase the Latino voter population in supervisorial Districts 3 and 5. But Grewal and Withrow said they were willing to support the map endorsed by the advisory commission.
District 5 residential growth expected
Angela Freitas, director of planning and community development for the county, said District 5 is positioned for residential growth with developments planned south of Service Road near Ceres, in the Carpenter, Hatch and Whitmore road area, in Patterson and Diablo Grande.
Residential development over the next 10 years could make it more difficult to keep the general population balanced between District 5 and the other four districts.
Map 3, the one approved by supervisors, will give District 5 the largest population (116,398), with almost a 5% deviation that is allowed by law. Supervisorial Districts 1, 2 and 4 will each have close to 110,400, and District 3 will have 107,200 residents.
Mark Looker, a member of the redistricting commission, said the group was in the difficult position of increasing the Latino citizen voting-age population but attorneys couldn’t define the ideal percentage. Latinos currently represent 53.9% of the voter base in District 5.
County officials decided to shoot for one district with a large Latino majority. It’s possible to draw two districts with slightly more than 50% Latino voting population, officials said, but turnout patterns in previous elections suggest it wouldn’t result in Latino representation on the board.
Board Chairman Vito Chiesa and Grewal said officials from other counties at the California State Association of Counties conference last week said their counties were not able to form redistricting commissions because of delays in federal reporting of 2020 Census data until late September.
Stanislaus was able to get an advisory commission involved with redrawing the election boundaries, even holding map-drawing sessions for community members, though it resulted in a somewhat disjointed and confusing process, officials said.
How one map rocked the boat
Joel Campos identified himself as the community member who drew Map No. 6, which rocked the boat by proposing radical changes to District 5. The county’s project and legal team determined the map met the criteria under law and recommended it for consideration.
Map 6, which was rejected by the board, proposed to expand District 5 into areas of south and west Modesto and would divide the communities in western Stanislaus County between supervisorial Districts 3 and 2. It would have placed Hughson in Supervisor Buck Condit’s District 1, effectively cutting Chiesa out of his own district.
Campos, holding his child at the podium, told supervisors the map would expand the Latino voting base and give a Latino candidate a good chance of winning a board seat, plus the West Side cities of Patterson and Newman would have two board representatives instead of one.
“We are always hearing how the West Side is neglected,” Campos said.
The last District 5 election featured Condit, Ceres City Attorney Tom Hallinan and Ceres Councilman Michael Kline in the primary in 2020, with Condit winning the November 2020 election against Hallinan.
The District 5 seat comes up for election again in 2024.
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 4:14 PM.
