A legal challenge to San Luis Obispo County’s new district elections map has been dealt another blow.
The nonprofit SLO County Citizens for Good Government is challenging the Board of Supervisors’ December adoption of a new district map that they say favors conservative interests and disenfranchises voters in communities across the county.
After a SLO County Superior Court Judge denied the group’s efforts to have the new map overturned last week, the nonprofit filed an emergency petition with the California State Supreme Court.
The court on Tuesday dismissed that petition without prejudice, meaning that it will not hear the case or comment on its merits.
This practically ensures that the new district map adopted by the board will be used in this year’s June primary in SLO County’s districts 2 and 4.
In a statement to KCBX News, SLO County Citizens for Good Government said that the emergency motion they filed Monday was the most "economically efficient and the responsible thing to do."
The group said of the court's dismissal, "We do not take this lightly, and know that thousands of SLO County citizens will have their votes disrupted in the 2022 election. We will continue working to build a robust case to be heard in court in the coming months and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure a fair democracy for SLO County."
SLO County Citizens for Good Government alleges that the map, adopted 3-2 by the board, violates the state's Fair Maps Act by breaking up communities of interest and creating an advantage for conservative voters in three out of the five districts.
Superior Court Judge Rita Federman sided with the county in last week’s preliminary injunction hearing, but also acknowledged that the legal challenge could still have other successes further down the line.
Federman wrote that the group “demonstrated a high probability of success on their claim that the board did not proceed in the manner required by law when it failed to consider evidence that the adopted map favored or discriminated against a political party.”
The court set a case management conference for March 14 where it's expected to set the case for trial to determine if the map will stand for future elections, according to the county.
The new map splits the North Coast area into three pieces, putting Los Osos in one district and Morro Bay in another.
Meanwhile Cayucos, Cambria and the rest of the North Coast region are now in a district with the city of Atascadero.
The City of San Luis Obispo remains divided between multiple districts.
Judge Federman's ruling is available here.
