Frequently Asked Questions

Added June 30, 2021

As this document is updated, additional questions and answers will be included in dated sections.

November 2, 2021 Redistricting Public Hearing FAQs, please check #23 - #26 entries below.

No. The County is required to redistrict per Elections Code § 21500(a), which states that a county shall adopt boundaries for each supervisorial district following each federal decennial census so that the supervisorial districts shall be substantially equal in population. The deadline to complete the process and adopt a map is December 15, 2021.

No, the County Board of Supervisors cannot change the December 15 deadline. The deadline is set by Elections Code § 21501 based on the date of the next primary election. Due to the delays in the 2020 Decennial Census, the State Legislature extended the 2022 primary date from March to June 7, 2022. The County has no ability to change this state law or the June 7, 2022 primary election date.

Each county shall have a board of supervisors consisting of five members pursuant to Government Code § 25000(a). Absent a change in state law, the Board cannot change the number of members.

Link to 2021 County of Orange Redistricting web page

The website is translated via Google Translate into English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese and all materials have been translated manually in the languages. In addition, per Elections Code § 21508 (b): The board shall arrange for the live translation in an applicable language of a public hearing or workshop held pursuant to this chapter if a request for translation is made at least 72 hours before the hearing or workshop, unless less than five days’ notice are provided for the hearing or workshop, in which case the request shall be made at least 48 hours before the hearing or workshop.

The public may submit comments now through the online web form ; by calling and leaving a voicemail at (714) 834-6000; emailing redistricting@ocgov.com; or submitting written comments to 333 W. Santa Ana Blvd. 3rd Floor, Attn: Redistricting Team, Santa Ana, CA 92701. The public may also provide written or verbal testimony at the redistricting public hearings and workshops. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

To speak on an item, complete a Speaker Request Form(s) identifying the item(s) and deposit the completed form(s) in the box to the left of the podium. When addressing the Board, it is requested that you state your name and city of residence for the record. Members of the public desiring to speak should address the Board as a whole through the Chair. Speakers may address the Board on up to three occasions, with three minutes allotted to the speaker per occasion. The Board has the discretion to alter the amount of time per speaker at the Board meeting.

The required data to complete redistricting in the State of California will not be available until the end of September 2021. The County plans to have a two-week submission period where online software will be available to create maps. This software will be accessible from any computer that has internet access. Desktop or laptop computers are recommended for full functionality of the software. In addition, there will be alternate methods to assign the census geographies to create a map and provide comments about the district boundaries.

The public workshops will allow for both in-person and virtual attendance. Those watching virtually may submit their comments in advance via email redistricting@ocgov.com or by calling and leaving a voicemail at (714) 834-6000. The County will not be monitoring social media during the public workshops. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

The draft agenda for our upcoming Redistricting Public Workshops is as follows:

6:00 pm to 6:10 pm – Welcome and Introductory Remarks

6:10 pm – 6:45 pm – Power Point Presentations & Redistricting Overview by County Staff

6:45 pm – 7:30 pm / 8:00 pm – Comment Submission and Q&A - In-person & phone comments and questions

8:00 pm – Event Conclusion

For our August Redistricting Public Workshops, as noted above, we estimate we will take testimony starting at approximately 6:45 p.m. A list of all of our upcoming events where testimony may be heard may be found on our website - Redistricting Timeline

To ensure all public comments are heard by the County, the time allotment for in-person and virtual attendees at the 2021 Redistricting Public Workshops is three minutes.

As all five Redistricting Public Workshops will be in-person and virtual, we have several ways individuals who are in need of language assistance can take part:

In-Person Language Assistance

Live language translation in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese will be provided via headset if requested 72 hours in advance of each Redistricting Public Workshop. A translator in the requested language will also be present should someone have a question for panelist.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be onsite to translate for those in the audience and answer questions for members of the public as well.

Virtual Language Assistance

For those viewing the meeting online, there will be closed captioning available in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese as well as ASL interpretation via the County's Facebook account.

Should our virtual attendees asking questions need translation services in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese, they are to be requested 72 hours in advance of each of the workshops. Please send language support requests to redistricting@ocgov.com or call (714) 834-6000. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

County staff will be present at each of the five locations. All County Supervisors have also been invited to attend.

All five Redistricting Public Workshops will be streamed on the County's Facebook page. The County will also record all five workshops and post them on our website at www.ocgov.com/redistricting.

For those viewing the meeting online, there will be closed captioning available in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese as well as ASL interpretation via the County’s Facebook account.

Our virtual attendees who have questions or wish to listen in English over the phone, may do so by calling in to our moderated phone line. The call in number and access code for all five meetings are being procured at the present time and will be posted on the County's redistricting website.

Should our virtual attendees asking questions over our moderated phone line need translation services in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese, they are to be requested 72 hours in advance of each of the workshops. Please send language support requests to redistricting@ocgov.com or call (714) 834-6000. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

Lastly, given the volume of public comments that may occur in real time on the County’s Facebook account, we will not be able to answer questions via the public on this platform in real time. Those attending virtually are requested to call in to the moderated phone line during each workshop, email us with their comments at redistricting@ocgov.com or leave a voicemail message at (714) 834-6000. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

While the County does not know how many participants we will have in-person versus over the phone, we will endeavor to go back and forth between in-person attendees and those calling in.

The Esri Redistricting software is only available in English. However, the step-by-step walk-through of the software will be available in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Also, should people need technical assistance in another language, they can contact the Redistricting Team at redistricting@ocgov.com or (714) 834-6000. Our phone line will be monitored until February 15, 2022.

Anyone can submit comments, including maps, to the redistricting email at any time and those will be posted online. However, they would need to be provided in a PDF document, and not a link. Maps in PDF format submitted via the redistricting email will be considered a public comment and NOT a map proposal.

For a map to be considered as an actual proposal to be considered by the Board for adoption, individuals must follow the Board adopted Public Participation Plan which specifies that a person must either use 1) the County’s Esri Redistricting software portal and submit their map through that software or 2) submit the public participation kit’s Excel file to the redistricting email. No other format will be accepted in order to create a map proposal. Any other format beyond the two methods above will be considered as a public comment, not a plan for consideration by the Board. All map proposals must be received by no later than Friday, October 15, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Yes, all maps submitted by the public were posted on the “Redistricting Proposals Submitted” section of the website as of October 22, 2021.

Yes, the November 2nd meeting will include a public hearing at a time certain where members of the public can address the Board and provide public testimony regarding the redistricting proposals.

All proposed maps received within the public submission period were posted online at the “Redistricting Proposals Submitted” section of the County redistricting website as of October 22, 2021. At the Board meetings, the Board will receive public testimony and may provide direction to staff to make modifications to the proposed maps. Maps, including any modifications, must be posted online for 7 days prior to adoption.

The redistricting public hearing will be held at a time certain at each of the Board meetings. The Chair of the Board determines the time allowed for each member of the public to provide public comment.

The Chairman has indicated that speakers will be allowed 3 minutes each for public comments.

After the Chairman opens the public hearing, the Board will hear public comment first prior to deliberating.

We did not receive any requests for language translation for tomorrow’s meeting. As with the other redistricting public hearings, closed-captioning in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean will be available for tomorrow’s public hearing on the County’s Board meeting viewer at Board Meeting Media Archive | Orange County Board of Supervisors (ocgov.com)

Public speakers will be allowed to enter the building to provide public comment and will then return outside where the audio will be available by speakers set up to the north of the Hall of Administration.

The County has posted a link to the data used for redistricting including the current proposals and revisions on the OCPW OpenData portal. The public can access this data at https://data-ocpw.opendata.arcgis.com/search?tags=Districts. The data can accessed through the ArcGis Online web application or a GIS mapping platform.

add remove Heading 1. Why are we doing redistricting now? Can’t we postpone it?

add remove Heading 2. Is it possible to extend the December 15, 2021 deadline? Can the deadline be extended to January to match the State Redistricting Commission?

add remove Heading 3. Can the Board of Supervisors change the number of Supervisors to seven, nine or some other number? Does the Board plan to change the number of Supervisors?

add remove Heading 4. What is the County’s redistricting website?

add remove Heading 5. Is the County’s redistricting website translated and are the materials translated as well?

add remove Heading 6. When may I provide public comment?

add remove Heading 7. How do I provide public comment at meetings or workshops?

add remove Heading 8. When can we start drawing maps?

add remove Heading 9. What format will the public workshops in August be in?

add remove Heading 10. What will the agenda for the August public workshops look like?

add remove Heading 11. At the August public workshops, when will testimony regarding communities of interest (COI) be heard?

add remove Heading 12. At the August public workshops, what will the time allotment per speaker be?

add remove Heading 13. At the August public workshops, how will language assistance be provided to attendees, speaker?

add remove Heading 14. At the August public workshops, will OC redistricting staff and the supervisors themselves be attending in person?

add remove Heading 15. At the August public workshops, how will community members attend remotely?

add remove Heading 16. At the August public workshops, how will the agenda balance the participation of speakers attending in person versus remotely?

add remove Heading 17. Will the Esri Redistricting software be available in other languages?

add remove Heading 18. How can I submit a map proposal for Board consideration? Can I send an email with a link to a map?

add remove Heading 19. Will maps submitted by the public be listed in the “Redistricting Proposals Submitted” section? If so, when do you anticipate them being posted?

add remove Heading 20. Will November 2 include discussion of public map submissions? If so, will those who have submitted have an opportunity to present their plans to the board?

add remove Heading 21. Will the Board be presenting its own draft map on November 2 or November 9? How far in advance of the presentation will that draft map be available to the public online?

add remove Heading 22. Will the November 2, 9, and 16 meetings to discuss maps be held during the normally scheduled Board meetings? If so, will public comment be subject to time restrictions based on the volume of comments?

add remove Heading 23. For the residents that wish to provide public comment, will they be guaranteed 3 minutes to speak?

add remove Heading 24. Will the public comment take place at the beginning or at the end of the hearing?

add remove Heading 25. What languages will be covered for interpretation?

add remove Heading 26. Will the hearing be similar to the August workshops where we were able to sit in to listen in? Or similar to the June 22nd hearing where we will only be allowed in to provide public comment and the rest of the time stay outside?

add remove Heading 27. How can I download the data (e.g. shapefiles and/or block equivalency files) for the redistricting proposals and revisions?

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