At the first meeting of Santa Barbara County’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission, appointed members talked about the importance of making the group geographically and demographically diverse.
County voters passed Measure G in 2018 and created the commission, which will draw new boundaries for the supervisorial districts. The five-member Board of Supervisors is responsible for regional policy and financial decisions, including the annual budget.
As outlined in Measure G, the County Elections Office reviewed applications and came up with a list of finalists to be commission members.
Five people — one per current supervisorial district — were randomly selected on Oct. 13, and that group’s first major task is to pick six more people to round out the 11-member commission.
The five initial members are: Carpinteria resident Laura Katz; Santa Barbara resident Will McClintock; Lompoc resident Norman Bradley; Orcutt resident Cary Gray; and Santa Maria resident Glenn Morris.
The supervisors had asked to see what criteria County Elections Officer Joe Holland used when selecting finalists, but he told them he did not want to disclose that information.
At last week’s meeting, redistricting commissioners themselves asked for that information to help their own selection process.
Assistant County Executive Officer Nancy Anderson said Holland’s criteria were different than what the commission can use — commission members are meant to consider ethnicity, gender, age, and political party affiliation.
Commissioners plan to discuss the selection process, and choose an interim chairperson, at the next meeting at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 12.
The commission eventually will have independent legal representation, said Anne Rierson, from the County Counsel’s Office, who delivered a brief Brown Act open meetings law training to the commission last week.
The group will also work closely with National Demographics Corp. to facilitate the redistricting process, Anderson said.
NDC President Doug Johnson said the firm has experience with redistricting and California Voting Rights Act lawsuit demographic research, and he previously worked with Goleta during incorporation.
Commission Member Selection
All applicants were required to be county residents; registered voters; have voted in at least one of the previous three statewide elections; have not changed their political party affiliation within the past five years; and have no financial conflicts of interest such as donating to a candidate or committee related to county elected office.
The five randomly-selected commissioners include four men and one woman, are white, and are between the ages of 51 and 73.
Measure G states: “The six appointees shall be chosen based on relevant experience, analytical skills, and the ability to be impartial, and to ensure that the commission reflects the county’s diversity, including racial, ethnic, geographic, age and gender diversity. However, formulas or specific ratios shall not be applied for this purpose.”
It also says that political party preference of commissioners “shall be as proportional possible to the percentage of voters who are registered with each political party” in the county.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, 46.73% of Santa Barbara County voters were registered as Democrats, 25.44% were registered as Republicans, 22.02% were registered with no party preference, and less than 3% of voters were affiliated with each other political party, as of September.
The pool of 43 finalists includes 20 South Coast residents; three Santa Ynez Valley residents; four Lompoc Valley residents; one Los Alamos resident; one Guadalupe resident; and 14 Santa Maria/Orcutt area residents.
The group listed on the county website includes 27 men and 16 women.
While 18-to-50-year-olds represent about 45% of the countywide population, they account for about 30% of the applicants (13 people) chosen as finalists. People over the age of 50 represent about 33% of the population and 69% of the finalists (29 people).
The list of potential commissioners includes people aged 27 to 83, and one person who declined to state their age.
Of the people who listed their ethnicity on the application forms, more than 70% of them identified as white, compared to 43% of the countywide population.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.