Who will hold political power in Fresno County for the next decade? Here’s what to know
A process is underway to redraw Fresno County’s voter boundaries, significantly influencing who will run local government agencies for the next decade.
And few Fresno-area residents seem to know about it.
Participation in workshops and public meetings debating the decennial redistricting process has been sparse. Critics say residents have a lot on the line and described the poor public participation as troubling.
“We are a representative government,” said Marianne Kast, president of the League of Women Voters of Fresno. “We elect somebody to carry forth the ideas that we think are important. It’s critical that our community be represented by a person who understands, and perhaps, lives in our particular community.”
Fresno County is hardly alone. Redistricting officials say that low participation at public meetings is common. Ryder Smith of the Tripepi Smith communications firm told attendees at a recent workshop meeting that they should be proud of themselves for the participation turnout. There were about 10 people in the audience not working or volunteering on behalf of the agencies involved in the process.
Others have raised concerns over the demographics company hired by Fresno County to handle the redistricting process. Critics note the company, National Demographics Corporation, has been accused of drawing politically partisan maps in other California communities that they say tend to favor incumbent politicians seeking to remain in office and dilute minority voting power, allegations the company refutes.
Some Fresno-area community groups question whether the county and their hired communications firm, Tripepi Smith, should be doing more to beef up community participation.
Eric Payne of the Central Valley Urban Institute said he didn’t think there was enough engagement with minority news outlets. “It’s concerning because our community is diverse, and we have to be intentional when we engage residents to ensure that there’s language accessibility,” said Payne.
But local officials say, despite the poor participation, the county is doing everything possible to draw residents into the conversation over political power and representation.
“We gave direction to make sure that they were going beyond what the law requires as far as outreach is concerned,” said Supervisor Nathan Masgig in an interview with The Bee. “I do believe that right now, the county is going above and beyond.”
And it’s not too late for residents to help shape the local district maps.
The final Public Engagement Workshops for the county’s redistricting process will take place on Saturday at 9:30 am at Woodward Park Regional Library in north Fresno. The second meeting takes place at 2:30 pm at the Veterans Memorial Center in Clovis. Both meetings include an option to connect to a live stream of the meeting through Zoom.
What is redistricting, and how does it work in Fresno County?
Fresno County, like cities, school boards, and counties across the country, is going through the decennial redistricting process, where supervisorial district maps are redrawn based on updated U.S. Census data that is used to evenly distribute the population into representative districts.
This process determines which communities are grouped together into a supervisorial district to elect a county supervisor. The county’s five-member board of supervisors operates a budget of $3.9 billion and manages a number of public health, public services, and public works projects.
Ultimately, the point of redistricting is to ensure fair and inclusive representation that reflects the community. Some leaders say it’s just as important a process as the decennial U.S. Census and elections.
As part of the redistricting process, Fresno County has scheduled five Public Engagement Workshops where community members can define their communities of interest and have a say in the redistricting process.
Norma Sandoval is one of the relatively few Fresno County residents that has attended the public workshops. “I want to see changes in my city,” said Sandoval, a Parlier resident for over 23 years.
Like many in Parlier, Sandoval works in the fields; her parents were migrants from the Mexican coastal state of Colima. Sandoval said she wanted to see improvements in her community’s drinking water, sewage systems, street lights, and parks.
“It’s important to participate so that they listen to us,” said Sandoval, “so that we raise the voice of the community.” She said she doesn’t usually participate in public meetings but wanted to share her concerns about her community’s needs.
Sandoval said she wants to see more representatives that look like her community, who “come from immigrant parents, that have worked in the fields.”
Parlier sits in District 4, which is represented by Supervisor Buddy Mendes. Sandoval was unaware that Mendes represents her county district. “I’ve never seen him or heard about him here in Parlier,” said Sandoval.
Public outreach ‘in all corners of Fresno County’
According to the Fair Maps Act that passed in the California legislature in 2019, cities and counties must allow for public input on the placement of boundaries and the proposed placement of maps. Furthermore, the act requires that maps prioritize keeping neighborhoods and diverse communities intact and prohibits partisan gerrymandering.
“I can promise you that we’re going to give direction to staff to be in all corners of Fresno County hearing from everyone,” Masgig said during the April 13 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting. He also acknowledged that Fresno is a large county and for residents of places like Mendota and Shaver Lake, “it’s difficult sometimes for them to come to downtown Fresno to participate in a meeting.”
Some say these outreach efforts fall short.
Michael Evans, chair of the Central California Coalition for Equitable Realignment, said that there is very little information in the community about redistricting.
The county has contracted with the Tripepi Smith communications firm to coordinate public outreach for the redistricting process. The company’s efforts have included social media publications, disseminating digital fliers in multiple languages, a phone and email campaign to around 75 community organizations, and outreach to the county’s traditional press list.
Of the three workshops that have already taken place, there have been 15 to 23 in-person attendees per session, but number of these attendees were official county redistricting advisory committee members. The county estimates that there have been about 20 to 30 virtual attendees per session. Some have criticized the limited ability to participate via Zoom — in a workshop where they are supposed to provide feedback on defining their communities of interest.
As for the meeting locations, so far, one has taken place in a rural part of Fresno County, in the town of Riverdale. The other four public engagement workshops are located within the cities of Fresno and Clovis, which has raised concern among certain community groups as to whether the county is doing enough to reach “all corners” of the county.
The County Administrative Office said that securing meeting locations that were spacious, ADA-compliant, and with solid internet access was made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is still a chance for the public to provide input through an online submission form, via email, mail, or hand-delivered to the County’s Administrative office. There will also be a chance to provide public comment at the official Advisory Committee Hearing in October and Board of Supervisor redistricting meetings in November. Anyone can draw and submit a map for consideration.
“There’s always going to be a barrier for somebody, I understand that,” said Jeff Tilton of the NDC during the Aug. 4 public workshop at Fresno High. “There’s never going to be enough opportunity for people to participate. There never will. There’s always going to be some person or persons who feel that they didn’t have that opportunity.”
In total, the county estimates it will spend between $220-$250,000 on the redistricting process, expenses which are reimbursed by the state.
Redistricting demographers that allegedly dilute minority voices
Fresno County and city, as well as other districts throughout the Central Valley, have contracted with the NDC, a company that has run over 368 districting and redistricting processes in California.
Groups like the CCCFER had advocated against the choice of demographers. The group had also suggested an independent redistricting commission, but the county decided upon an 11-member advisory commission to recommend district maps.
Critics of the demographers say they are concerned about the group’s track record of controversial maps, which detractors say has limited the power of Latino voters. The company has been called a “litigation magnet” and has been sued by multiple groups.
They have also raised eyebrows because the company’s leader has served as an expert witness for Republican legislators in gerrymandering cases. NDC president, Douglas Johnson, testified in support of Kern County in a lawsuit filed by Latino civil rights groups that claimed the county’s supervisorial map violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Latino citizens. Led by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, the case was successful in finding that both Kern County and Johnson had misled the court and supported plans which diluted the voting power of the minority Latino community.
A recent analysis by the Associated Press says that nationwide over the past 50 years, Republican politicians were more likely to use census data to draw voting districts that gave them a greater political advantage.
“The consequences of gerrymandering cannot be overstated — it takes away the will of the voters and locks politicians into a decade of power,” said Payne. “Candidates with unpopular and even dangerous views can easily win districts that should be competitive. It’s a threat to our democracy.”
Still, none of the NDC’s maps having been rejected by a court or the Department of Justice, says the Fresno County administrative office, which chose the demographers after they “verified references and positive feedback on NDC,” said county spokesperson Sonja Dotsi.
Preliminary 2020 U.S. Census data was released last week and showed that Fresno County saw an increase of 78,204 people, representing an 8.4% growth over the last decade.
The Advisory Committee and demographers are waiting for state census data to include updated numbers that put state prisoners in their county of origin, which is expected to be released in September.
Melissa Montalvo is a reporter with The Fresno Bee and a Report for America corps member. This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.
