State Center Community College District Trustee Area Redistricting 2011 Legal Requirements and Other Redistricting Criteria September 6, 2011 Presented by Sean Welch Marguerite Mary Leoni State Center Community College District

Drawing the Lines: Legal Considerations Overriding criterion is population equality (§ (a)(1); Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964). Unlike congressional districts, local electoral districts, like the College’s Trustee Areas, do not require perfect equality. Some deviation acceptable to serve valid governmental interests. Total deviation less than 10% presumptively constitutional. (Caution: the presumption can be overcome!) State Center Community College Diustrict

Legal Considerations: Voting Rights Act Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act prohibits electoral systems, including redistrictings, which dilute minority voting rights by denying minorities an equal opportunity to nominate and elect candidates of their choice. State Center Community College District

Voting Rights Act: No Cracking State Center Community College District District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 Minority Voters

Voting Rights Act: No Packing State Center Community College District Minority Voters District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 Minority Voters

Voting Rights Act: Section 5 1.To extent possible, maintain voting strength of minority groups as it currently exists in the trustee areas affected by section 5 2.Obtain USDOJ preclearance of the new trustee area plan, if necessary State Center Community College District

Legal Considerations: Voting Rights Act Not required to draw a majority-minority district unless a compact district can be drawn with a minority population that is greater than 50% citizen voting age population. Bartlett v. Strickland, 129 S. Ct. 1231, 1246 (U.S. 2009). Bartlett does not prohibit entities from drawing minority “influence” districts. State Center Community College District

Legal Considerations: No Racial Gerrymandering The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits using race as the “predominant” criterion in drawing districts and the subordination of other considerations. Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993) ; Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952 (1996); Miller v. Johnson, 515 U.S. 900 (1995). It does not, however, prohibit all consideration of race in redistricting. Easley v. Cromartie, 532 U.S. 234 (2001). Looks matter! Bizarrely shaped trustee areas can be evidence that racial considerations predominate. State Center Community College District

Legal Considerations: Other Permissible Criteria Topography. Geography. Cohesiveness, contiguity, compactness and integrity of territory. Communities of interest. (See, Elec. Code § 21601) State Center Community College District

Legal Considerations: Other Permissible Criteria Some other legitimate criteria include: – Preserving cores of existing districts. – Preventing head-to-head contests between incumbents. – Observing to extent possible the boundaries of included school districts State Center Community College District

Relevant 2010 Criteria Applied When SCCCD Implemented Single-member Trustee Areas Trustee areas of approximately equal population per 2000 census data Trustee areas composed of contiguous territory Trustee area boundaries drawn along recognizable geographic and topological features (e.g. roads, streets, freeways, railroad right of way, jurisdictional boundaries) To extent possible, preserve cores of existing trustee area configurations One and only one incumbent in each trustee area All trustee areas contiguous Given District's large Hispanic population, trustee area boundaries should recognize concentrations of Hispanic voting strength (measured by the most recent CVAP data) consistent with the above criteria Compliance with Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act with regard to the Kings County territory of the College District State Center Community College District

2011 Criteria The 2010 criteria remain pertinent to the current task of redistricting. Recommendation: For continuity, adopt the same criteria with any changes/ additions deemed appropriate by the Board of Trustees to guide the 2011 redistricting process. State Center Community College District

State Center Community College District Trustee Area Redistricting 2011 Legal Requirements and Other Redistricting Criteria September 6, 2011 Presented by Sean Welch Marguerite Mary Leoni State Center Community College District