An Examination of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission

On November 8, 2008, a historic presidential election drove voter participation to unusually high levels. Californians cast more than 13.5 million votes for president. Much farther down their ballot, a smaller number of voters (just short of 12 million) voted on Prop 11, also known as the Voters First Act. By a margin of less than 1 percent, voters transformed the way the state went about drawing districts for state offices. Instead of the state legislature and governor (and at times, the courts), an independent citizen commission—the California Citizens Redistricting Commission—would now accomplish the task. With little notice in the tidal wave of the presidential race, Californians had made a major change to their state’s constitution.

This report analyzes California’s citizen redistricting process, from design to implementation, presenting findings  about  what  worked  well  and  what  did  not.   It  also  offers  recommendations  for  improvement,  in order to assist future California citizen commissions, in addition to any other jurisdiction looking to follow
California’s lead.