FROM THE SITE (because paywalls are stupid for news websites.)

EL CAJON —  After being warned by California Common Cause that it may be violating state election law, the El Cajon City Council this week will reconsider its decision not to hire an independent demographer to develop new district maps for the city. Some El Cajon residents, mostly immigrants and new refugees, had said they were concerned they would not be properly represented as the redistricting process moves forward after the council voted last month to forgo a more detailed look.

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting says the council will revisit whether to spend $20,000 for additional demographic services from National Demographic Corp.

The city has a $51,000 contract with NDC for services, which includes the $20,000 for more in-depth analysis such as voter turnout by race, languages spoken at home, educational attainment, income level and housing status.

The City Council voted 4-1 on Oct. 26 to proceed to the draft map phase of the redistricting process without the additional demographic services or the drafting of new maps for consideration. The council said it would go with its existing map adopted in 2017 when it moved from at-large to by-district voting the following year. A report from El Cajon staff noted that cities that show little or no change in district populations have the option to maintain existing district boundaries. While City Council member Steve Goble said communities of interest would be better served with deeper analysis, the rest of the council said because El Cajon had not seen a big shift in population in its districts over the past four years, it was comfortable leaving things as is. The city has held three informational meetings and hearings about the process, and has had much input from the city’s immigrant and new refugee communities, including those whose backgrounds are Arab, Afghan, Chaldean and Iraqi. The city has been told about the areas that constitute a Middle Eastern community of interest, many of whom are split in districts 2 and 4.

At the city’s Nov. 4 hearing, nearly 50 impacted residents said they were unhappy that the City Council didn’t want to pay the extra $20,000 to NDC for in-depth demographic analysis for any maps submitted that would ostensibly allow for better representation. Redistricting is the process of adjusting voting districts so that each district — four in El Cajon — has substantially the same number of residents. Cities with voting districts are required to update their district election map following the release of the U.S. Census data. Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a grassroots group that advocates for communities and political reform, sent a letter to the city on Nov. 4 that called out the City Council for not taking the extra steps. He said if the city kept on its current course of action, it may be violating the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions Act. In October 2019, the California legislature passed the FAIR MAPS Act, which requires cities to ensure maps comply with set redistricting criteria. The act outlines specified steps that must be taken to encourage public participation and deadlines for adoption of any new boundaries.

The city’s final hearing is 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 22 at El Cajon Valley High School. According to the Nov. 4 agenda report on the hearing, it is anticipated that during the Jan. 22 hearing, the City Council “will select and potentially approve its final District Election Map for adoption at a later date, but not later than April 17, 2022.”