The City of Signal Hill held its first public hearing on Sept. 8 about creating voting districts, a dramatic shift in the city’s political landscape.
Signal Hill has historically run its elections through an at-large system, where residents across the city receive an equal say in voting on all members of City Council. This change will introduce four to five districts, where residents are only permitted to vote for their district’s representative. Districts will also run elections during separate cycles, similar to how Long Beach runs its elections.
The change was prompted after the threat of legal action from The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), which cited the California Voting Rights Act in a letter to the City back in June.
“The contrast between the significant Latino proportion of the electorate and the absence of Latinos elected to the Signal Hill City Council over its entire 102-year history is outwardly disturbing and fundamentally hostile towards participation from members of this protected class,” SVREP wrote in its letter to the City.
Over 200 cities and roughly 350 school districts have made the switch from at-large voting systems to districts as a result of the California Voting Rights Act. Multiple cities have also been sued into doing so, including Anaheim ($1.1 million), Modesto ($3 million), Palmdale ($4.7 million) and Whittier ($1 million).
The voting rights organization gave the City until Aug. 20 to voluntarily begin the process of creating voting districts.
The City held multiple closed sessions to discuss the matter between June and August. There has since been one public workshop on Sept. 2 and one public hearing on Sept. 8. About 20 residents attended the workshop in early September, said City Manager Carlo Tomaino.
Residents are now invited to shape Signal Hill’s first-ever voting districts through a series of workshops and map drawing opportunities. The City’s goal is to “draw lines that respect neighborhoods, history, and geographical communities of interest,” they stated on their website.
Signal Hill will be using data from the 2020 Census to determine population, which shows a total population of 11,911 and a voting-age population of 8,366.
Guidelines
While the California Voting Rights Act doesn’t provide any criteria on how a municipality can create districts, the Fair Maps Act of 2024 does have requirements.
Under federal law, the number of districts is determined by the city’s population, and each district must have roughly the same population, allowing for a 10% deviation. There can be no racial gerrymandering, where district lines are drawn to undermine a minority population’s vote. However, according to the Federal Voting Rights Act —which has been newly brought back into the political zeitgeist —race and ethnicity cannot be the primary consideration for creating a district.
Instead, district lines have to consider “communities of interest,” which include everything from income, class and education to history and neighborhoods. The California Elections Code defines a community of interest as “a population that shares common social or economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.”
California criteria requires that:
- All parts of a district must touch, meaning there cannot be county islands or census blocks within the city
- The City must try to avoid the division of neighborhoods and communities of interest
- There should be easily identifiable boundaries
- The districts should be compact, not dividing or bypassing groups to reach certain populations
A final prohibition states that boundaries cannot be drawn with the purpose of favoring or discriminating against certain candidates or parties. At the Sept. 8 public hearing, Dr. Justin Levitt with the National Demographic Corporation said Signal Hill does not have any data on this and will not be using it during the districting process.
How to Get Involved
Signal Hill residents have multiple opportunities to help shape the city’s district boundaries, beginning with a handful of meetings at City Hall, all at 7 p.m.:
- Sept. 22 – Public hearing where residents can ask general questions and discuss neighborhoods and communities of interest.
- Oct. 13 – First public hearing with the draft maps included, where residents can give feedback on drafts and revisions.
- Oct. 27 – Second public hearing with the draft maps included
- Nov. 10 – Map approval and adoption
Signal Hill residents can submit their map of election district lines at drawsignalhill.org. At this site, the public can also access draft maps once they are posted. There are currently blank city maps and maps divided by Census data on the website.
The deadline to submit draft maps is Oct. 2. The draft maps will be made public on Oct. 6.
The City will host four more public hearings, two without drafted maps and two with the maps, where the drafts can be discussed and revised. The City hopes to adopt the final map on Nov. 10.
