Why Placer County reversed course on redistricting in a surprising win for the public
It was a twist ending few expected. The Placer County Board of Supervisors voted this week to reverse course and rescind last week’s vote approving a county-generated redistricting plan. In its place, the board approved a map generated by and overwhelmingly supported by the public.
The change of plans — and of heart — very likely wouldn’t have happened if not for fierce public outcry and a growing group of residents who consistently showed up at county meetings demanding transparency and neutrality in the process that redraws supervisorial districts every 10 years. The supervisors’ reversal is a testament to local democracy at work.
Judging by the discussions at recent county meetings, coverage of the redistricting process by The Bee and Gold Country Media also played a key role in the decision.
Based on the agenda, Tuesday’s meeting looked likely to follow the unfortunate pattern of Placer County’s redistricting process to that point. The board was slated to yet again review a few redistricting options, but the community-generated maps were curiously omitted, and a new Map Z appeared without explanation.
Map Z’s mysterious appearance was eventually explained by Supervisor Cindy Gustafson, who said she directed county staff to make another version of the county plan known as Map A with several boundary changes proposed by the public.
Credit for the board’s decision to change course is owed to Supervisor Suzanne Jones, who motioned at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting to rescind the tentative approval of Map A and support community-endorsed Hybrid Map 2.0, Option 1. There was no second from the board, however, and the motion was tabled until after public comment.
Dozens of members of the public spoke in support of the hybrid map, several questioning the decision to approve Map A despite the lack of public support for it.
Likening the board’s approval of Map A to a movie script that had been written ahead of time, two speakers offered a tub of popcorn and several packages of candy to board members and asked them to rewrite the ending.
Following public comment, the board revisited Jones’ motion to rescind approval of Map A in favor of the public plan, and Supervisor Bonnie Gore seconded the motion.
“It meets all of the criteria of the (Voting Rights Act) to the highest degree, it follows all federal and state guidelines and requirements, it better aligns communities of interest and eliminates peninsulas, it keeps cities whole, it follows natural boundaries … and it’s fully supported by the constituents of Placer County,” Jones said of the hybrid map. “Today marked the second call of support from the public for Map A as opposed to the gazillion phone calls, emails and text messages from the community who’ve begged us to vote for (the) hybrid.”
After that and another motion to reverse course failed, Jones again moved to rescind Map A in favor of the public plan. Surprisingly, and without explanation, the board approved it unanimously.
Before the public can officially declare victory, the board must finalize its adoption of the public map on Tuesday. Here’s hoping we’ve seen the last twist in a story that finally seems to be coming to the right conclusion.