Fresno County put on notice by civil rights organizations over redistricting process
Three California civil rights organizations informed Fresno County supervisors that their apparent intent to keep “existing supervisorial districts largely the same” during this year’s redistricting process is concerning, and warned them doing so would be in violation of federal laws.
The ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Southern California and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California earlier this month sent a letter to Fresno County supervisors and the Fresno County Redistricting Advisory Commission.
In their Sept. 16 letter, the organizations address comments made by some Fresno County supervisors during an April meeting and urge them to avoid violating the law.
During the April 13 meeting, some supervisors made comments about their desires to keep the districts largely intact “by only changing the districts at the margins to balance the population.”
“These comments are extremely concerning because this approach prioritizes maintaining the core of existing districts over mandatory criteria, something prohibited by federal law and by the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act,” the letter reads. “This approach also defeats the purpose of the redistricting process: to periodically redraw district boundaries to provide residents with fair representation.”
Fresno County, and all other local governments across the country, are going through a redistricting process that takes place every 10 years to redraw supervisorial district lines to reflect how local populations have changed using new census data.
Two Fresno County supervisors on Wednesday told The Bee they will follow the law.
The letter references comments made by Supervisors Nathan Magsig, Buddy Mendes, Brian Pacheco and Steve Brandau. As of late Wednesday, only Magsig and Mendes had responded to a request for comment.
Magsig is referenced as saying he is “saddened” by the fact that his District 5 (Clovis and the foothill/mountain communities) will probably see the most impact, given its growth in population.
“If I could, I would say keep the lines exactly as they are because I appreciate having the opportunity to serve everyone who is currently in my district,” Magsig said, according to the meeting’s recording.
After some speakers during the meeting alluded that supervisors were on the redistricting commission to create districts that are “more favorable to them,” Magsig said he wanted to publicly state that if he could keep the constituents he currently has, he would want to do that, according to the meeting’s recording.
Magsig on Wednesday said he recognizes most of the growth has been seen in his district, so from a population perspective, he stands to lose the most constituents, but will follow the rules.
“I think my comments, too, that they referenced said something along the lines that ...I really enjoy my district and representing all my constituents, which is true, I said that, but clearly, we are going to be following the law,” he told The Bee.
Magsig said context for the supervisor’s comments made during the April meeting is important, and what supervisors were trying to convey is that they “truly” enjoy everyone they have the opportunity to represent.
The ACLU letter also references Mendes stating the 2021 redistricting process was simply about “tweaking” or “moving over” somewhere “between 3 to 5 census tracts.”
Mendes responded to The Bee with a statement on Wednesday afternoon, where he says supervisors appreciate the concerns outlined in the ACLU letter.
He says supervisors “fully support the redistricting process,” which includes input from all Fresno County residents in communities of interests and comments on how the new supervisorial district maps should be drawn.
He said county officials continue to encourage residents to take part in the process. A redistricting public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. (website: bit.ly/FresnoCountyRedistricting2021)
District 5, which Magsig represents, and District 1 (including Fresno west of Highway 99) represented by Pacheco stand to see the most significant changes, Magsig said.
District 5 has about 27,000 voters over the mean average, he said, and District 1 has about 3,000 voters over the mean average.
“Knowing that there has been significant growth in my district, and also some growth in Brain Pacheco’s district, and looking at the other three supervisors — the current three other supervisorial districts are under populated — that in itself tells you that the lines are going to be changing significantly,” he said.
Magisg said supervisors’ goal is to keep communities of interest together while evenly distributing the population among the five supervisorial districts.
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