County Board Approves New District Boundaries
Supervisors agree to changes affecting County representation for the next ten years
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF., - The County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors voted to approve new supervisorial district boundaries at its meeting Tuesday. A vote on the final resolution for adoption to implement the new maps will be Tuesday, Dec. 14.
The final map, labeled 90195, can be viewed at www.sccgov.org/2021redistricting. The population of each district is different by 4.1% across all boundaries (standard deviation), maintains a majority-minority Asian and Pacific Islander voter representation in District 3 (50.6%), and has a Latino influence in District 2 (49.5%).
There are several changes from previous district boundaries that will be instituted on Jan. 13. The most notable changes are:
- The City of Sunnyvale will be entirely located in District 3 where it had been previously split into Districts 3 and 5; and
- The Town of Los Gatos, the City of Monte Sereno, and the Almaden Valley and Lexington Hills areas will move from District 1 to District 5; and
- The community of Evergreen in San José will move from District 3 to District 1.
“The Board passed maps that meet the legal requirements outlined by the Fair And Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities And Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS Act) and the Voting Rights Act,” said County of Santa Clara Chief Operating Officer, Miguel Márquez. “The map is contiguous, maintains communities of interest, is easily understandable, and meets all requirements relating to population equality among supervisorial districts.”
Every 10 years, the County of Santa Clara draws new supervisorial district lines based on the updated
Census data. District boundaries must take into consideration topography, geography, cohesiveness, contiguousness, compactness of territory, and communities of interest.
“This has been a challenging process and a lot of great work has been done,” said District 3 Supervisor Otto Lee. “I want to thank all of the residents who came forward to voice their concerns and who contacted my office. We came up with a good map that preserves a majority Asian district and a Latino influence district, which is reflective of the diverse community we live in. At the end of the day, I believe we live in an amazing county and we’re moving forward in a positive direction.”
The Board established an Advisory Redistricting Commission earlier this year to take community of interest testimony, analyze population shifts, and consider initial district maps. The Commission submitted draft maps to the Board in October which members worked from to develop the final map.
“We’ve heard from hundreds of community members throughout the redistricting process,” said County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, M.D., J.D. “This was a transparent process that transcended politics and went through months of scrutiny and hard work. I want to thank the public, the staff, and the Board for the thoughtful and careful consideration of all the maps.”
Per state law, the Board must adopt an updated map by Dec. 15, and be in place before the next election cycle, so that candidates and voters know in which district they reside.
“I’d like to thank the Advisory Redistricting Commission and the community for their tremendous engagement on this issue,” said District 2 Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
To learn more about the County’s redistricting process, visit the redistricting website at www.sccgov.org/2021redistricting.
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ABOUT THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, California, making it more populous than 14 states in the U.S. The County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through the County of Santa Clara Health System, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many other public benefits.
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Media Contact: Laurel Anderson/Matthew Rudig, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, [email protected].