Palmdale man among 14 approved for L.A. County Citizens Redistricting Commission

PALMDALE – The Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission has finalized the names of the 14 commissioners who will be responsible for how voting districts are mapped for electing the Board of Supervisors, based on 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The commission is charged with adjusting the county’s supervisorial districts to create areas that are roughly equal in population and geography. A similar statewide commission, formed every 10 years following the census, is responsible for drawing district lines for Assembly, state Senate and congressional seats.

The registrar-recorder/county clerk received 741 applications and narrowed the applicants to a pool of the 60 most qualified names. The auditor- controller conducted a random drawing at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Nov. 24, selecting one commissioner from each of the five existing supervisorial districts and three commissioners randomly drawn from the remaining 55 applicants.

The eight randomly selected commissioners met between Dec. 14 and Dec. 28 to select the final six commissioners from the remaining 52 qualified applicants.

The 2021 CRC commissioners are: John Vento of Palmdale; Apolonio Morales of Whittier; Brian Stecher of Santa Monica; Carolyn Williams of Hawthorne; Daniel Mayeda of Culver City; David Holtzman of Burbank; Doreena Wong of Los Angeles; Hailes Soto of Downey; Jean Franklin of Long Beach; Mark Mendoza of La Verne; Nelson Obregon of Los Angeles; Priscilla Segura of Los Angeles; Priya Sridharan of South Pasadena; and Saira Soto of Los Angeles.

The six female and eight male commissioners include eight Democrats, two Republicans, and four who are either no preference or affiliated with other political parties. Their ages range between 31 and 73, and six are Latino/Latina, three are Asian, three are white, and two are Black.

The CRC is unlike past practices when the Board of Supervisors appointed an advisory boundary redistricting committee to study proposed changes to the boundaries and could make revisions before adopting the final redistricted boundaries.

During the next year, the CRC will be conducting a series of public hearings and meetings to solicit community input regarding future supervisorial district boundaries.

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