Windsor’s redistricting process has produced three map options for review.
The Windsor Town Council will receive a report from town staff and its redistricting consultant on potential new district boundaries for its four-district elections system at their Jan. 24 special meeting.
The Town of Windsor adopted its district voting system in 2019, under threat of a lawsuit that it violated the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) by marginalizing minority voters, a claim validated by a recent racial polarization study completed by the town. The current districts, which have been implemented only once — in 2020 when Councilmember Debora Fudge was elected to represent District 3, will have to be redrawn per state and federal law considering U.S. 2020 Census Data.
“Every 10 years, the U.S. Census revises their census blocks and local governments are required to use the new census data to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. Assembly Bill 849 (2019) requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and/or workshops and conducting public outreach, including to non-English-speaking communities,” the town’s 2022 Redistricting webpage reads.
Whichever map is ultimately selected will be implemented in November’s general municipal election, the three remaining at-large seats — two occupied by Vice Mayor Esther Lemus and Councilmember Rosa Reynoza, and the third to be seated following April’s special election — will be replaced with the seats for Districts 1, 2 and 4. Under the current boundaries, Mayor Sam Salmon and Vice Mayor Esther Lemus live in District 2, alongside special election candidate Stephanie Ahmad; Councilmember Rosa Reynosa lives in District 1, alongside special election candidates Evan Kubota and Michael Wall.
None of the sitting council members nor the special election candidates will be able to run for District 4 unless the map changes to include one of their residences, however, regardless of district residence any Windsor resident can run for the at-large mayoral seat in November.
The redistricting process comes at a time when the future of the current election system remains uncertain. After the winning candidate is seated in May, they could end council deadlock and join Vice Mayor Esther Lemus and District 3 Councilmember Debora Fudge to call for a special election to replace the at-large mayoral seat with a fifth district—reverting to an appointed, rotating mayor. It’s common in many cities for councilmembers to appoint a mayor from among themselves as part of their restructuring process, and Windsor selected its mayor this way until the switch to the current system in 2020.
If the voters agreed the mayor should be replaced with a fifth district, the town would have to redraw districts again, this time dividing Windsor five ways. However, according to former town manager Ken MacNab, there will not be time to redistrict a second time prior to this November’s election, regardless of the outcome of a potential ballot measure
Under the current map, Windsor is divided into four rough quadrants by Highway 101, and Old Redwood Highway, with District 1 in the northwest, District 2 in the northeast, District 2 in the southeast and District 4 in the southwest. District 4 breaks the quadrant mold, crossing Highway 101 to the east along Shiloh Road, south of District 3.
According to the agenda report, staff have determined that the districts are no longer balanced, with the ideal district holding 6,594 (25%) of the town’s 27,378 residents. District 1 is currently 7.35% under that target, while District 4 is 11.34% higher, resulting in a combined deviation of 18.69%.
In addition to balancing population, the town council will have to consider the distribution of minority voters, and try to create a majority-minority district, required under federal law if possible. In Windsor, where U.S. Census data reports 8,908 (33.7%) of residents identify as Hispanic/Latino, this means drawing a district where Hispanic/Latino voters are a majority, while balancing other requirements such as geographical contiguity, leaving neighborhoods undivided and making easily identifiable boundaries.
The recent racial polarization study conducted in October 2021 suggested that the creation of a majority-minority district is possible, however, the agenda report says, “Upon review of the town’s Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) data, creation of a majority-minority district (a district in which an identified minority comprises the majority of voting age population) is probably not possible without creating significant areas of non-compliance with regard to the other mapping requirements noted above.”
The town must also consider keeping whole communities of interest, such as school attendance areas, areas formed by natural boundaries including highways, areas around neighborhood landmarks like parks, areas united by common issues or activities — or where the population shares demographic characteristics.
Three maps are included in the agenda packet for input by the council and the public. All three make adjustments along the east-west axis, abandoning Old Redwood Highway as the horizontal access to varying degrees, and options two and three have District 1 expanding east across Highway 101 into District 2.
Each of the three maintains the meeting of the four districts’ inner vertices at the Old Redwood Highway/Highway 101 intersection, and each option attempts to create a majority-minority district in northwest Windsor (District 1) while improving the contiguity of both the Vintana neighborhood and Jensen Lane community of interest. Their population deviations are all under the 10% threshold, with 4.82% deviation in Map Option 1, 7.87% deviation in Map Option 2 and 9.28% deviation in Map Option 3.
The public can review the proposed maps with magnification to view specific boundaries here, and images of the maps are included in the agenda report alongside detailed demographic data. The town also offers an online mapping tool, with an instructional video and a PowerPoint presentation containing instructions.
The redistricting process has been discussed at two prior special meetings, Sept. 27 and Oct. 25. At the Jan. 24 meeting, council will have the opportunity to request provisions or decide on a preferred map, which could be adopted Feb 16 by ordinance. The deadline to complete the redistricting process will be April 17.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly implied that a second redistricting process to include five districts could be in place by November’s 2022 general municipal election. In fact, assuming the council calls a special election and the voters choose a fifth district, there will not be time to redistrict again ahead of November.
