Yolo County moves to protect Latino voting power after hearing redistricting appeals

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors this week voted unanimously to move forward with redistricting proposals that would preserve the county’s only Latino-majority district, rejecting competing maps that could have diluted the county’s Latino vote.

The decision comes after voting rights advocates and community members urged the Board of Supervisors to select a redistricting map that they say would maintain the voting power of the county’s growing Latino community.

The redrawing of maps occurs every 10 years after the U.S. Census Bureau releases population change figures. District 5, which is the county’s Latino-majority district, is led by Supervisor Angel Barajas. Two of the five supervisors serving on the board, including Barajas, are Latino.

His district currently encompasses north and east Woodland, Knights Landing, Yolo, Zamora, Dunnigan, Brooks, Madison, Esparto, Dunnigan, Capay Valley, Guinda and Rumsey.

In an Oct. 27 memo from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, advocates argued three of the four originally proposed maps would dilute the power of Latino voters. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, maps cannot dilute the representation of racial minority groups.

“Yolo County must adopt a map that respects Latino voting power,” according to the memo. “If Yolo County were to adopt a map during the 2021-2022 redistricting round that when subject to a racially polarized voting analysis indicates dilution of Hispanic voting power, then the County can be subject to a Department of Justice enforcement action or a civil suit by affected voters. Litigation over redistricting plans is costly and onerous litigation.”

Since the last Census count, Latinos fueled 69% of the county’s growth, according to the UCLA Voting Rights Project. Since 2010, Yolo County’s Latino population has increased from 60,953 Latinos to 71,700, or 17%, according to the voting rights group’s figures.

Most of that Latino population growth in the last 10 years, according to Barajas, was concentrated in his district.

Furthermore, the voting rights advocates argued Barajas won his seat due to high Latino support. Latinos make up nearly a third of Yolo County’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

“Given the closeness of the election in which Barajas received a majority of his support from Latino voters, decreasing the Latino population in the 5th District would put Supervisor Barajas, and future Latino candidates, at risk of not being electable in this district, and would amount to the intentional dismantling of a currently performing minority district,” according to the letter.

On Wednesday, the board unanimously voted to adopt two maps, titled, map 5 and map 4a, which closely resemble the map voting rights advocates recommended. Those maps were introduced on Nov. 1.

“I think that having both rural and fairly suburban urban areas within each of our districts is the long-term benefit for all of our county,” District 2 Supervisor Don Saylor said during the Tuesday supervisor meeting.

The deadline for the Yolo County Board of Supervisors to approve a final map is Nov. 23, according to Yolo County public information officer John Fout.

This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 12:57 PM.