Redistricting

All jurisdictions that have electoral divisions, including special districts like the Turlock Irrigation District’s Board of Directors, must equalize the populations of their respective divisions every 10 years following the decennial federal census. Redistricting is the process of adjusting the division boundaries to ensure that all districts have equal populations and are in compliance with all state and federal laws.

Generally, the following factors are considered when drawing special districts (divisions), such as the Turlock Irrigation District (California Elections Code 22000)

• Each divisions should contain nearly the same number of people;
• Boundaries shall be drawn in a manner that complies with the United States Constitution and the Federal Voting Rights Act;
• Local topography;
• Local geography;
• Cohesiveness, contiguity, and compactness of territory;
• Divisions shall respect communities of interest. A Community of Interest (COI) generally refers to a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single divisions for purposes of fair and effective representation;

• We will use a mapping program to construct divisions after public input has been received.
• Census data will be used to find out how many people live in each part of the electoral divisions and ensure that each division contains roughly the same number of people.
• Census geography will be used to ensure that the divisions are compact and contiguous
• We will collect and utilize Community of Interest data from the residents and Directors of Turlock Irrigation District to use in the building of divisions.

Electoral divisions are drawn using the total population as counted by the last census. Everyone who was counted, irrespective of age or other demographics, has to be assigned to a division. Divisions are not equalized using voters, registered voters, or citizens.

We would like to hear from you so we can make informed decisions about where to put division boundaries. Specifically, we need information from you about your communities of interests. You are the expert who knows your communities! If we know the geographic locations of the Communities of Interest in TID, we can consider them when drawing lines and we won’t inadvertently split them! Keeping communities together in the same division can help to get more responsive representation.

If you have more questions, we are available to answer them!

• You can attend any of the above public meetings
• Or email your question to: jmweimer@tid.org
• Or mail your question to: Josh M Weimer 333 East Canal Drive P.O. Box 949 Turlock, CA 95381-0949
• Or call us: (209)-883-8361