The make-up of the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission will take another step closer to completion this week, as the first eight members are chosen at random from a list of 36 finalists.
On Thursday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m., the State Auditor’s office will make the picks at the CA Secretary of State Auditorium in Sacramento. The randomly-chosen finalists must include three Republicans, three Democrats, and two independents or minority party finalists. Those eight will then chose the remaining six Commission members (two from each sub-pool).
As stated in the 2008 voter-passed initiative, the final 14-member commission must be made up of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four independents or people from a minor party. The Commission must also be balanced by gender, region, and ethnicity.
Nearly 30,000 people applied to sit on the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission. Of those, 4,500 continued on in the process by submitting a supplemental application. A three-member Applicant Review Panel then sifted through the submissions and narrowed the pool to 60: 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 20 Decline-to-State or belonging to another party.
The four Legislative leaders then had until Nov. 15 (this past Monday) to strike up to two names from each of the sub-pools. They struck a total of 24 of the 60 finalists, leaving 36.
California Forward will closely follow developments on Thursday, Nov. 18 and post results here on our blog.
Gina Baleria is the communications manager at California Forward.
