Past Public Comments

Dear OC Supervisors and relevant Staff:

Orange County must eliminate the current Republican gerrymander that has disenfranchised many OC residents for years.

I generally support the map put forward by the OC People's Redistricting Alliance, which makes a genuine effort to balance the needs of all OC residents.

At the heart of the current problem are the legacy gerrymandered supervisor districts, created by the supervisors themselves. If these gerrymandered districts continue, the process will violate the law and be subject to litigation.

Clearly the past process has been unfair in favoring one political party. To wit:

Two years ago, registered Democrats finally outnumbered registered Republicans in Orange County. Current OC data show that Dems make up 37.1% of the voter roles, Republicans 33.5%, and NPP 23.8%. (In 2016, Hillary Clinton bested Donald Trump, 51% to 42%, and Biden did even better last year, 53.5% to 44.4%.)

Going back to 2013, Dems accounted for about 33.1% of county registrations, Republicans about 43.7%, and NPPs 23.2% (source: L.A. Times, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-08-07/orange-county-turns-blue-with-more-registered-democrats-than-republicans)

Had districts been fairly created over nearly the past decade, we should have seen Republicans and Democrats each hold two to three seats on the Board of Supervisors. Instead, we have seen Republicans consistently hold three to five seats.

Now, with a clear Democratic majority in the county, the three Republican supervisors (and a Democratic supervisor who generally supports the Republican majority) will again carve out their own districts. It is no mystery where this is going.

The County has encouraged input from the public on the redistricting process, but I fear this will be for naught. The redistricting software you have offered is too complicated for the public to use. And we apparently had only a week or two to figure it out and submit our own map. The maps provided for the process, and separately available from the county, generally don't identify the streets that divide districts, making it impossible to see if current (and probably the supervisor-drawn maps) comport with state law requirements that districts should be reasonably contiguous and not carved out for political purposes. A cursory viewing of current districts shows numerous squiggles and indents along district borders, on unnamed streets, possibly to capture or eliminate certain blocks of voters. It is also unclear who drew the current proposed maps on display on your website.

As you know, in the end, the current supervisors will draw their own districts. To this skeptical OC resident, the result will be yet more gerrymandering to entrench Republican supervisors.

The existing gerrymandered districts are illegal and must be corrected. The map produced by the OC People's Redistricting Alliance seems to comply with the law and ensure fair representation for all residents.

Sincerely,

Dan Jamieson

Huntington Beach

To the OCBOS:

Keep Costa Mesa United. I support Maps 2A and 5.

Hello,

As a resident of Orange County I urge you to keep Costa Mesa together and use either Map 2a or 5. Any map that splits Costa Mesa is doing so for a partisan gerrymander and to silence the voices of Democrats in Orange County.

To Whom This May Concern:

I am emailing in support of keeping Costa Mesa United and supporting Maps 2A and 5.

Supervisor Foley,

I am writing in support of the drafts for proposed maps 2A and 5 as I believe that these two options, as drawn, best represent our community. Excepting the fact that I will no-longer reside in your district... Thank you for your continued hard work!

I am very concerned about possible gerrymandering in our county.

Please do not split Costa Mesa. I support apps 5 and 2A.

Thank you.

Dear Honorable Supervisors:

As a longtime elected school board member in Orange County, I am honored to represent hundreds of thousands of constituents in the communities of Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Midway City, and Westminster. I ask that you keep Costa Mesa united. Many of my constituents support Maps 5 and 2A, and I strongly urge you to keep Costa Mesa together, please do not split it. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin
Clerk, Board of Trustees
Ocean View School District