Latino voting rights groups say proposed district maps don’t reflect California
California Latino advocacy and voting rights groups are opposing the state’s preliminary redistricting maps, claiming the proposed lines do not reflect the state’s growing Latino population.
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, also known as NALEO, released a statement Friday saying the drafts “raised serious concerns” about diluting the voting power of Latino communities.
NALEO CEO Arturo Vargas said his organization is using maps proposed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a benchmark.
“It’s really is about, ‘Are Latino voters being given a fair opportunity to elect candidates of choice?’ and ‘Is the Voting Rights Act being complied with to the letter in the spirit of the law?” Vargas said.
The maps recommended by MALDEF request that the commission draw 16 congressional districts in which Latinos are the majority citizen voting-age population. Under the draft released by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, 13 Latino-majority CVAP congressional districts are drawn. Those districts are concentrated in the Central Valley, Imperial County and the Los Angeles region.
“In our view, 2021 maps should do better than the maps that were adopted in 2011 by the previous commission,” he said. “Using the MALDEF maps as a benchmark, the commission maps fall significantly short of what is possible with regard to ensuring that Latinos are able to elect candidates of their choice.”
In the last decade, U.S. Census Bureau data shows the Latino population in California increased by 11%, while the state’s white population declined. California is home to approximately 15 million Latinos, who account for 39% of the state population. They also make up about a third of the state’s eligible voters.
Eric McGhee, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, said the new maps contain three additional Latino-majority CVAP congressional districts.
“The Latino population in California has never had a number of majority districts that’s proportional to their population,” McGhee said. “It’s always been lower than their share of the population, even their share of the citizen voting-age population.”
Christian Arana, vice president of policy at The Latino Community Foundation, said two-thirds of the state’s population increase over the last decade was fueled by Latinos.
Arana said he’s glad to see the commission add more Latino-majority CVAP districts, but called for proportional representation.
“If we know that California’s Latino community makes up 39% of the population, if things are to be fair, I would also hope that 39% of the congressional districts reflect that reality of the immense size of the Latino community in the state of California.”
Arana said he’s also concerned that the commission proposes splitting Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard’s district, which includes the Latino-populated communities of South and East Los Angeles.
The 14-member California Citizens Redistricting Commission released their preliminary drafts last week. The group is currently conducting public meetings to get feedback about the drafts before final maps are due to the Secretary of State by the end of the year.
“The (Voting Rights Act) certainly is there to protect those communities that have faced historical exclusion and the Latino community certainly falls into that category,” said Commissioner Sara Sadhwani, a Democrat in Los Angeles County.