Signal Hill City Council has chosen the final map that will decide how the city is broken up into voting districts for future elections.
This major change, prompted by a threat of a lawsuit from the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, will go into effect during the 2028 election cycle. The sequence of district elections will take place as follows:
- Districts 1, 3 and 5 in 2028
- Districts 2 and 4 in 2030
In 2030, Signal Hill will have to undergo a redistricting process to ensure the map aligns with the 2030 U.S. Census. State and federal law places mandates on how much each district’s population can vary.
The City began considering various maps in October, both proposed by the community and the National Demographic Organization (NDC). On Oct. 27, the NDC returned to councilmembers with three tweaked versions of a previous map presented on Oct. 13, as well as two maps from residents.
Ultimately, the council decided on Map 109, which, according to Mayor Tina Hansen, kept the most communities of interest. This map also followed council’s previous direction to use Cherry Avenue as a vertical line of division between districts 2, 3 and 4.
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.”
Examples include historical neighborhoods, communities geographically together, as well as income, class and education levels.
Councilmembers Charlie Honeycutt and Robert Copeland agreed that Map 109 kept the most communities of interest together. The council unanimously approved the new map.
