The California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s final six members were chosen Wednesday. Now, the commission has about half a year to redraw political district lines.
Before voting on the final six members, the original eight heard public comment and read through more than a hundred e-mails.
Stanley Forbes is one of the eight members chosen a few weeks ago at random. He said the biggest concern was the demographics of the group. While sitting in his Sacramento book store, The Avid Reader, Forbes said it would be impossible for 14 people to represent all the demographics and varying interests of nearly 40 million Californians. But, he said, they’ll do their best.
“We have three Anglos, three Latinos, four Asians, two African Americans, one Pacific Islander, and one Native American,” Forbes said. “So that to me seems like we’re a pretty diverse group, at least ethnically.”
Forbes said he doesn’t foresee any problems among the commission members.
The commission will take a break before meeting again early next year. Forbes says the new state legislative and congressional district lines must be complete by August 15.
