Posts Tagged: . 2011 redistricting

Analysis

Redistricting, elections: Surprises await, and no perfect roadmap

Image of the California state flag, showing the cracks and fissures representing political differences. (Illustration: helloRuby, via Shutterstock)

ANALYSIS: For the past two years, redistricting experts and politicos, myself included, have been building toward the 2022 election cycle. A big part of this included building tools for analyzing potential new districts for their partisan breakdown and likely voting behavior. Getting these kinds of metrics was critical to the drawing of lines by legislatures that still have the control, and performing advocacy before commissions in states, like California, that have transitioned to a public and open redistricting process.

Analysis

CA120: Political intrigue: BOE’s redistricting and the gas tax

Board of Equalization Chair Jerome Horton chats with colleague Diane Harkey in the Capitol. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

Whether you liked it or not, the state Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase.  This saved Californians 4-cents-a-gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget. What caused this rather dramatic policy move?  I keep being drawn to the extraordinary events surrounding the 2011 redistricting of the BOE, which has four directly elected members.

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