Palm Springs to hold workshop meeting about switch to district elections
The first of two interactive public workshops will be held today regarding the mapping process in Palm Springs’ transition from at-large to district elections, and will give residents a chance to learn how to submit their own custom district maps to city officials.
Residents can attend the free 6 p.m. forum at James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center, 480 Tramview Road, to get a firsthand look at a mapping tool that can be used to create and submit maps to the city council.
City officials continue to consider where the new district boundaries will lie for its first district-based election and have engaged the services of a demographer to “document voting patterns by ethnicity and geography.” The demographer’s results will be shared at upcoming meetings, according to city officials.
The switch to district elections comes after a voting rights group threatened litigation against the city earlier this year, alleging that Palm Springs is violating the California Voting Rights Act by conducting at-large elections.
A letter from the nonprofit Southwest Voter Registration Education Project claimed that at-large elections “diminished the ability of Latino residents to impact elections and has resulted in racially polarized voting.”
Though city officials denied the nonprofit’s claims, they noted that
municipalities that chose to fight litigious threats of that sort often lose, citing the northern Los Angeles County city of Palmdale, which lost a court battle over the matter and was forced to make the switch, as well as pay millions of dollars in legal fees.
Similar notices were sent to Cathedral City and Indio in recent years, prompting both municipalities to switch to district-based elections.
The deadline to submit a map is Sept. 17. Map submissions and comments should be emailed to CityClerk@palmspringsca.gov. The mapping tool may also be viewed at www.psdistricts.com .
Spanish language interpreters will be on hand during today’s meeting, as well as a second meeting that will be held Wednesday night at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
Those who cannot attend may watch the meeting live on Palm Springs Community Television Channel 17 or online at www.palmspringsca.gov.
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