Orange County went through its redistricting process in 2011. This happens every 10 years after the year after the national census to adjust the county population among the districts. The new district lines in this map will officially take effect on December 4, 2012, but will also be effective for purposes of qualifying for office and for elections in 2012.
As expected, the 2010 census showed a need to adjust population between districts and there was a noticeable increase in the Hispanic population in Orange County. Because of that the Democratic Hispanics were at every redistricting meeting pushing for a “protected class” district for Hispanics with a publicly proposed map showing their vision for consideration. Their investment of time did not give them everything they were demanding, but it did have an impact on how people thought about redistricting in 2011.
There was a 15 person Citizen Review Board selected to propose maps and conduct public hearings to listen to what the public had to say about their areas of interest. The map approved by the Orange County Board of Commissioners took into account some of the Citizen Review Board’s recommendations, however, there were major changes of direction once they took control of the process.
County Watch had members on both sides of the political aisle participated as private citizens in multiple public hearings. One of our members, Jim Martin, was on the Citizen Review Board.
2012 Orange County District Map
2002-2011 Orange County District Map
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Redistricting Information
Mapping Supervisor from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections – Beverly Willis
