After a lengthy selection process, the Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission finalized the names of the 14 commissioners who will be responsible for adjusting the district boundaries for electing the Board of Supervisors, based on the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk received 741 applications by Sept. 8, 2020, and narrowed the applicants to a pool of the 60 most qualified names. The Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller conducted a random drawing at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Nov. 24, 2020, 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 28, 2020, to select the final six commissioners from the remaining 52 qualified applicants.

The 2021 CRC commissioners are Nelson Obregon, Priscilla Segura and Saira Soto, all of Los Angeles and representing the 1st District; Carolyn Williams of Hawthorne, Daniel Mayeda of Culver City and Jean Franklin of Long Beach, representing the 2nd District; Brian Stecher of Santa Monica and Doreena Wong of Los Angeles, representing the 3rd District; Apolonio Morales of Whittier and Hailes Soto of Downey, representing the 4th District; and David Holtzman of Burbank, John Vento of Palmdale, Mark Mendoza of La Verne and Priya Sridharan of South Pasadena, representing the 5th District.

The commissioners range in age between 31 and 73. Eight are Democrats, two are Republicans and four are either affiliated with other political parties or have not registered a party preference. Six are female and eight are male. Six are Latino, three are Asian, three are white and two are Black.

The CRC is independent of the Board of Supervisors as a result of the California Senate Bill 958, which passed in 2016. This CRC is using new practices. In the past, 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.

This redistricting intends to rebalance district populations so they are reasonably equal in population; meet the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote”; and ensure districts are geographically contiguous, taking into account topography, geography, cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, compactness of territory and community of interest of the supervisorial districts.

During this next year, the CRC will be conducting a series of public hearings and meetings to solicit community input regarding future supervisorial district boundaries. The CRC’s redistricting efforts must be completed by Dec. 15. 

For information, visit bos.lacounty.gov.