Carson is getting a first look at what its district boundaries will be for the next decade, now that the Citizens Redistricting Commission posted draft maps on its website on June 10.

The Commission’s first draft of a proposed congressional map shows Carson combined into a district with Wilmington, Rancho Dominguez, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Gardena, Lynwood, and Compton. The proposed state senate District is fairly similar but includes Inglewood. The assembly district would consist primarily of Wilmington, Carson, Compton, and Lynwood.

All local congressional districts remain solidly Democratic, despite some earlier speculation about a reconfigured 36th more like the 1990s version. Statewide, Democrats would be expected to pick up 3-5 seats, if this were the final version.

For the first time in state history, the Citizens Redistricting Commission is determining the districts for Congress, the state legislature, and the State Board of Equalization. Under the U.S. Constitution, congressional districts must be redrawn following every federal census.

In previous decades the state legislature determined the new congressional districts, along with those for itself and the Board of Equalization. This meant the majority party had power to decide district boundaries for its own and other representatives.

As an alternative, votes passed Proposition 11 in 2008 and Proposition 20 in 2010. The result was the Voters FIRST Act, which created a fourteen-member commission especially for the purpose of redrawing district boundaries.

Under the law the Commission consists of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four members "who are not registered with either of the two largest political parties."

However, persons registered as “Decline To State” fill all four Commission seats not allotted to registered Democrats or Republicans. None of California’s four actual ballot-qualified so-called third parties are represented, nor are there any Commission members identified as “independent.”

This resulted from a complicated selection process of several rounds--picture American Idol in the context of the state bureaucracy. Beginning with about 30,000 applicants, the state auditor narrowed the field until first 120 and then 60 prospects remained, divided into three equal pools by voter registration.

Then the state legislature stepped in and cut more names. No applicants from ballot-qualified third parties survived this far. The remaining names went back to the State Auditor, who drew a total of eight names from the three pools, and the eight commissioners whose names were drawn made the final selections.

"Obviously we're disappointed to be shut out," said Chad Jackson of the Libertarian Party. He was one of three representatives from ballot-qualified third parties who Random Lengths contacted for this story.

Jackson said he applied and made the second round but wasn't invited to Sacramento for an interview. "I loved the concept," he added. "I thought it was a chance for real change to occur, to draw lines more fairly... Now, probably more of the same in the long run, districts redrawn in a way to favor the two major parties."

"The law wasn't written to favor independent parties," alleged Mark Robinson of the American Independent Executive Committee. "The legislature was given too big a role."

He said one member of his party made the first rounds but not the final pool.

Three Greens made the pool of forty persons for the four seats not reserved for the two major parties, but none of those candidates made the final pool either, said Michael Feinstein, former mayor of Santa Monica and a Green spokesperson.

"The Green Party has strong concerns that a commission without any members from California's smaller ballot-qualified parties will not do a sufficient job with this issue, especially when the Commission is dominated by Republicans and Democrats," Feinstein added.

The Peace and Freedom Party did not return any of five phone calls requesting comment.

Still it’s difficult to see how any redrawing of district lines could make third parties competitive in California today. A more profound change to some form of proportional representation would be required for that, given that no third party exceeds single-digits.

Next step for the redistricting process is a round of public hearings on the draft maps, with revised maps expected by July 1. Those maps will be further revised after a third round of public hearings, with any revisions in the final maps expected by July 26.

The deadline for the Commission to approve the final maps is Aug. 15. Maps must be approved by a combination of three Republicans, three Democrats, and three Decline-To-State Commissioners.