Members of the public interested in submitting draft maps as part of Redlands’ City Council redistricting process can now access online tools on the City’s website for creating maps. In addition, information from the 2020 Census showing demographic changes in the current City Council districts is also available.

The City of Redlands invites the public to participate in the current redistricting process by creating maps and submitting them to the City Council for consideration. The overall purpose of redistricting is to review current district boundaries and, where necessary, redraw boundaries to address any changes in population concentration.

Every 10 years, local governments use new data from the Census to evaluate and potentially redraw voting district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. State law requires cities such as Redlands to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and conducting public outreach.

The 2020 U.S. Census data that was released at the end of September 2021 shows how district populations have changed. Districts that had similar population and demographic characteristics 10 years ago, may have become mal-apportioned due to population changes. That is, some districts may have too many people while others may have too few people.

Mapping Tools Available for Public Use

The current election district boundary map, demographics and paper mapping tools are now available on the City’s website at https://drawredlands.org/draw-a-map/. The public is invited to submit information regarding their Communities of Interest and proposed district boundaries for the 2021 redistricting process by Jan. 31, 2022, via e-mail to redistricting@cityofredlands.org or in person at:

City of Redlands

City Hall

35 Cajon St., Suite 2

Redlands, CA 92373

Under state and federal law, voting districts must meet the following criteria:

• Each Council District must contain approximately the same number of inhabitants.
• Council District borders must be drawn in a manner that complies with the Federal Voting Rights Act.
• A Council District must not be drawn with race as the predominant factor in violation of the principles established by the United States Supreme Court in Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), and its progeny.

Upcoming public hearings will be held Jan. 18, 2022, and Feb. 15, 2022, with adoption of the final maps anticipated on April 17, 2022. More details on the schedule can be found at https://drawredlands.org/schedule/.

The finalized maps will define the five City of Redlands election district boundaries and determine how City Council members are elected for the next 10 years.

Redlands residents can learn more about the process for drawing new election districts at https://drawredlands.org/. The site will be updated regularly as draft maps are submitted.

Any questions may be directed to Tricia Munoz via email at tmunoz@cityofredlands.org or by phone at (909) 335-4755 ext. 9.