Carson Quietly Undergoes Redistricting

Come March, Carson’s City Council will take a vote on redistricting the current controversial district map — the once-a-decade process has drawn criticism from Carson residents for fueling deeper polarization at an already politically divided city council.

The city only moved to district voting in 2020 after being hit with a lawsuit for adopting at-large elections. The Southwest Voting Rights Group sued on the basis that Carson violated guarantees of a constitutional election. The lawsuit, which was expected, cost the city over $500,000.

“For the past several years, the outcome of the elections in Carson were pretty much decided by a very specific group of residents in the city,” said Dr. Sharma Henderson, president of Carson Accountability and Transparency. “That’s what made our city a textbook case for the Southwest Voting Rights. And why it was very easy for them to force our hand at making us a district city.”

When the city council adopted the district map, community leaders and political candidates immediately criticized the new district lines as benefiting the council members. The accusations of gerrymandering, and intentionally skewing district lines for political advantages, plagued the council with claims of disenfranchising voters.

“They’re [city council] concerned about protecting their own interests,’’ said Dr. Henderson. “Because remember, as those lines shift, that determines whether or not they stay in the district that they’re in, that determines who gets to run against them. That determines whether or not they end up having to run against each other.”

Carson’s former city councilwoman and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Vera Robles DeWitt, said the election process with the current map makes it difficult for members of the community to run for a political position. In November, she ran for city clerk, an elected position, but came short behind then California state legislator Myla Rahman.

“It is very difficult to win an election in Carson,” Robles DeWitt said during her campaign run in November. “You either have to know the right people or have loads and loads of money.”

The Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act requires cities to involve residents in the redistricting process by “holding public hearings and/or workshops and doing public outreach, including to non-English-speaking communities.”

Carson’s Assistant City Manager John Raymond, the leader behind hosting the workshops and delivering the information to the council said the city is trying to be as “public and transparent as possible.”

“All of these workshops that we’re doing, it would be one thing to say, ‘well we’re just going to put the notice up on the website and hope people show up, right?’” he explained. “And we do that, and we put it on social media channels and things like that, sort of blast it out.” Raymond goes on to say the city has hired a walkman to pass flyers to residents near the neighborhoods where the next workshop will be held. This process ended after all scheduled workshop meetings became virtual.

But Dr. Henderson said the city of Carson should do more than what the law requires and urges residents to pay more attention to redistricting.

“They’re going through the motions as legally required, and that’s it,” she said. “They’re doing the bare minimum, and they’re doing it very quietly. It’s an opportunity for engagement that I feel has been intentionally overlooked. And that saddens me because the lack of engagement from the residents allows for that to happen. And so the net result of it will be that we’re going to get a map that’s going to be favorable to the people who are serving in council. And we’re going to have to live with that map. And by the time people actually either realize that the boundaries of the map have changed, if at all, the process will be done and over with.”

The city, tasked with hiring a demographer, chose Andrew Westfall to draft a variety of maps to present during workshops and council meetings. As of early February he has drafted and presented six district maps. Members of the public are able to present their own maps. The maps are a representation of the various demographics of the city. Who is represented and by which council member is influenced by how the map is outlined.

Councilwoman Arleen Rojas expressed that the turnout of the workshops is disappointing. “I’ve been to the meetings and there are not that many people who show up,” she said during a council meeting. “And it’s staff. We really need to promote it and get the community to come out. We need to hear from them.”

At the council meeting, Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes suggested council members host their own redistricting information meetings for their districts — a process that will require further evaluation from the city manager.

But residents are still skeptical about the unanimity in the final decision and question if the council members should be the ones making the final call. Raymond says the council members don’t have to pick a new map if they don’t want to.

“Under the law, they can actually adopt the current app,” Raymond said. “The map that was adopted two years ago meets the demographic tests and meets a balancing test, so they don’t have to change the map. If they didn’t want to change it, they wouldn’t have to. But we’re required to go through this process and create new maps and try to improve things.”

When the redistricting process is finalized in March, the next opportunity to redraw the lines won’t come for another decade. Dr. Henderson wants to make every resident aware of this.

“It’s their opportunity to make sure that a person is in office, who lives in their community, who understands the issues and the circumstances that are specific to the neighborhoods that are represented by their district. And that’s the whole point behind having districts,” Dr. Henderson said. “They need to consume as much information as possible. They need to educate themselves. They need to ask questions. They need to be as engaged in the process as possible. And they need to let their voice be heard.”

Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes, council members Cedric L. Hicks Sr. and Jawane Hilton did not respond for comment.