After a year-long lawsuit filed by several local organizations, SLO County’s Board of Supervisors has reached a settlement concerning the county’s district map.
The Board adopted the current district map, called the Patten map, at the end of 2021. Adopted by the then-conservative majority, it majorly redrew the county’s five districts.
A group called SLO County Citizens for Good Government alleged that the three conservative supervisors engaged in gerrymandering by drawing three districts favoring Republican voters and two favoring Democratic voters. They sued the Board, saying the map violated California’s Fair Maps Act.
On Friday the County’s new Board of Supervisors approved a settlement agreement with the organization and its fellow plaintiffs. Meaning, the Patten map will be discarded and the Board will restart the redistricting process to draw a new one.
Linda Seifert is the Director and Secretary of SLO County Citizens for Good Government.
“It's a settlement, but there's still steps to be undertaken before a new map is actually in place. So we are extremely pleased by the outcome and looking forward to when a new map is implemented,” Seifert said.
The Patten map split the North Coast into three pieces, putting Los Osos in one district and Morro Bay in another. It also grouped Cayucos, Cambria and the rest of the North Coast in a third district with Atascadero. Meanwhile, the City of SLO remained divided into three districts just as it was before.
The three conservative supervisors, one of which is now out of office, have disagreed with the gerrymandering accusations and stood by their decision to adopt it.
Debbie Arnold represents SLO County’s district five. She is one of the Supervisors who approved the Patten Map in 2021.
"I want to say, I am very supportive of the Patten map. It was interesting from the first time I saw it in that it takes into account each city, it tries to keep them whole and in most of the communities [there is] minimal damage," Arnold said at a board meeting shortly before her vote.
Cindy Marie Absey with the League of Women Voters disagrees. The organization signed on to the lawsuit challenging the redrawn map, calling it unnecessary and drastic. Absey said she’s glad it will be replaced, because it redrew the districts in ways she feels do not make sense.
“The map that was adopted also broke apart long standing communities of interest along the coast and in the Oceano area. When the Board of Supervisors at that time adopted the map they failed to hear evidence of partisanship in the redrawing of the districts and that's a violation of the Fair Maps Act,” Absey said.
The Board is now required to adopt a new map in time for the March 2024 primary election.
There will be a Board hearing to repeal the current map and consider previously proposed maps on April 18.
