Santa Barbara County Redistricting Commission Appointed
The remaining six of 11 seats left on the County of Santa Barbara Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission have been filled.
The commission will be tasked with establishing county supervisorial district boundaries for the upcoming decade with the yet-to-be-released 2020 federal Census data. The six commissioners were chosen based on “relevant experience, analytical skills, and an ability to be impartial; and to ensure the commission reflects the county’s diversity, including racial, ethnic, geographic, age, gender and political party registration.”
But it wasn’t a short process to select the 11 commissioners. Following a two-month application period in the summer of 2020, the County Elections Official established a pool of 45 candidates. From that pool, one commissioner from each of the five supervisorial districts was randomly drawn by the County District Attorney. Then, last Monday, the initial five commissioners selected the final six additional members — one from each supervisorial district and one at-large member to complete the commission.
The final six commissioners selected by the initial five commissioners are:
- First District: Karen Twibell
- Second District: Megan Turley
- Third District: James Hudley
- Fourth District: Lata Murti
- Fifth District: Jannet Rios
- Member At Large: Benjamin Olmedo
These six join the five initial commissioners who were selected by random draw:
- First District: Laura Katz
- Second District: William McClintock
- Third District: Norman Bradley
- Fourth District: Cary Gray
- Fifth District: Glenn Morris
