On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council will receive a report from staff on the drafting of proposed maps for district-based elections.
It is still unclear if the move will begin in 2018 or 2020 but appears they will begin that discussion after several public forums.
Two maps were originally created and with feedback from both the council and community, two additional “quadrant” maps were created which has been posted on the City website since March 12, 2018.
The requirements of the maps must be drawn using specific criteria to comply with the state and federal constitutions, state law, and the federal Voting Rights Act. They must also meet two criteria which include equal population and complaints with the Federal Voting Rights Act.
Other districting criteria include Contiguity, Compactness and Respect for Communities of Interest (which may be neighborhoods or other areas in which people share a common interest important to the Council districts).
The council will discuss possible scenarios which could include:
- Staggered rollout of the district elections starting this year: In this scenario, the City would keep the two at-large seats of the councilmembers whose terms do not expire, and it would implement two of the four districts for this November’s election; then in 2020, the City would replace the two remaining at-large seat with two other districts. This would keep the current staggering of elections in which two councilmembers are up for election each election cycle.
- Implement districts all at once in 2020: With this option, the City would start all district elections in 2020, but provide that half of the districts would initially be for 2-year terms, while the other half would be for full 4-year terms. Then, in 2022, the Districts for which 2-year initial terms were held would convert to 4-year terms. This would allow the council to maintain a staggered election system. (What this would mean for the two council seats that are up for this year is that those would still be elected on an at-large basis in November, but they would only provide for terms of two-years).
To view all four maps, click here.
2 comments
I am glad to see the downtown area is split into two unlike the original maps which gave the downtown too much power. Working Quadrant-B is the way to go. The council should just move to elections this year and get it over with.
How to pick which two are up for election? Assign each council member a District. Get four marbles, 2 green & 2 red. Each council member picks a marble, the 2 who drew green, those are the two up for election in 2018.
See, its not that hard.
Originally there were 4 but two were eliminated and A and B suggested along with another that was eliminated. All during public input at the Saturday meeting. Downtown had to be split as that was the opinion of the majority of people at the meeting. Beside that it was the only way it should have been done. It was a really good crowd with lots of information.
If we wait until the 2020 election all 4 would be up for election I understand. What would happen between 2018 and 2020 I don’t know.
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