County Board Poised to Approve Illegal Re-districting Plan – Come Talk to Them Tuesday, July 12th at 2pm

UPDATE:  County to delay vote on re-redistricting maps; no vote on Tuesday – July 12th – see SignOnSanDiego here.

The County Board of Supervisors is poised to approve an illegal redistricting plan that squashes the Voting Rights of non-white voters in this County. We have seen what incumbent-friendly districts has done to our County Board. It is time to make a stand for the unrepresented in San Diego.

Two weeks ago, representatives from a diverse set of communities presented a plan to the Board of Supervisors that was fully compliant with the Voting Rights Act. The Supervisors all but balked at the plan and moved forward with their own incumbent-friendly plan.

Join us tomorrow as we again make our case to the Board that the Voting Rights of all San Diegans must be respected.

 Join Us!

 Tuesday, July 12th, 2PM

County Administration Center

1600 Pacific Highway, Room 310

 San Diego, CA 92101

 Even the UT agrees! Click HERE for an opinion piece from the Union Tribune about the arrogance of the County Board’s redistricting plan.

 If you do attend – here are some points to remember or understand

Speaker Instructions:

• Write down your testimony and bring 10 copies for the Board and Staff.

• Arrive between 1:00 and 1:30pm – if you do not turn in a speaker slip by 2pm you may not be able to speak.

• Check in with Emily Serafy Cox (619-752-0576)

• Get a speaker slip. Mark yourself as speaking on Item #4, mark ‘opposed’ and turn it in to the Clerk.

 Talking Points:

Everyone should start out with:

• I’m here to support the Communities of Interest Map because…

City Heights:

Points – City Heights has many things in common with the communities of the South Bay and the Barrio District.

Point Loma:

Points – Point Loma and Ocean Beach should be put in with the other beach and bay communities to the north, not with National City and Chula Vista.

South East San Diego:

Points – Put the historically African-American neighborhoods of South East San Diego City in with Lemon Grove and Spring Valley, not with La Jolla.

North County:

San Marcos: San Marcos and Escondido belong together. Unite the 78th Corridor

Escondido: Escondido belongs with the other communities along the 78th Corridor. Do not separate us from these other communities, you dilute our voting power and it is a form of discrimination.

South San Diego:

Points – The South Bay has more in common with City Heights than Point Loma and Coronado.

 La Jolla:

Points – La Jolla has more in common with beach communities like Point Loma, Coronado, Mission Beach, Del Mar, and Encinitas, then inland communities like Escondido

Other points everyone can make:

•  The Communities of Interest Map complies with the Voting Rights Act and creates first ever San Diego County majority-minority district, offering the Latino and African American communities the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice and to achieve fair and effective representation on the Board of Supervisors

• Has a District 1 that complies with the Voting Rights Act by creating a majority-minority coalition district with nearly 55% Latino and African American CVAP

• None of the county’s proposed maps achieve a 50-plus-one percent minority CVAP and are thus in violation of the Voting Rights Act

• The failure to map a majority-minority 1st District will result in unlawful vote dilution

Discuss any political cohesion between African-American and Latino communities. If you can remember times in the past when African-American and Latino voters voted together, this could go a long way toward debunking what we expect the County Attorney to tell the Board about our argument.

The Communities of Interest Map as a lower deviation than the proposed map. The proposed County Plan has a deviation of 2.4%. The Communities of Interest Map has a deviation of .4%

Thanks to  Emily Serafy Cox, Executive Director,  Empower San Diego – www.empowersandiego.org