With the passage of Prop. 11 in 2008, political districts will be drawn by voters, for voters starting in 2010. The applicant pool for the Citizens Redistricting Commission will be narrowed to the 60 most qualified candidates by an applicant review panel from the Bureau of State Audits. The Applicant Review Panel is currently conducting 120 semi-finalist interviews from Aug. 6 to Sept. 13, 2010.
Candidate: Angelo Ancheta
Angelo Ancheta has been involved in redistricting and civil rights issues for most of his career. A lifelong California resident and Bay Area native, Ancheta is a clinic director at the Santa Clara University School of Law, where he works with low-income communities and teaches election and constitutional law.
Ancheta’s experience with redistricting first began in the 1990s when he represented the Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Reapportionment before the California State Supreme Court. Through this experience, he came to appreciate the complex legal, demographic, and political questions involved in the redistricting process.
Ancheta has lived all across the state, including Los Angeles, San Jose, Yuba City and Orange Cove, a small town near Fresno. He has also served on the Board of Directors for California Rural Legal Assistance, a nonprofit legal organization that serves the rural poor throughout California.
Ancheta is the son of working-class immigrants from the Philippines and is married to Marie Ancheta.
Melissa San Miguel is a project assistant at California Forward.
