Redistricting Commission Background

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The City Council decided to create a seven-person independent commission to choose the boundaries of new Carlsbad City Council districts. Members were selected on July 13 through a random draw of eligible applicants, according to the following criteria:

2 registered as Republican
2 registered as Democrat
3 who list another party affiliation on their voter registration
1 member from each district
3 members citywide (not chosen because they are from a specific district)
3 alternates (1 Democratic, 1 Republican, 1 other)

See current membership
Back to main Redistricting page

Eligibility

To ensure the commission members are independent, state law includes the following conditions that would prohibit someone from serving:

A person or the person’s family member has been elected or appointed to, or been a candidate for, an elective city office in the preceding eight years
A person, or the person’s spouse, has done any of the following in the preceding 8 years (or the person’s non-spouse family member in the preceding 4 years):

Served as an officer of, employee of, or paid consultant to, a campaign committee or a candidate for elective city office
Served as an officer of, employee of, or paid consultant to, a political party or as an elected or appointed member of a political party central committee
Served as a staff member or a consultant to, or has contracted with, a currently serving elected officer of the city
Been registered to lobby the city
Contributed $500 or more in a year to any candidate for an elective city office

The Carlsbad City Council established two additional criteria:

Applicants must have been a Carlsbad resident for at least the past three years.
Applicants must registered voters 18 or older.

Member restrictions

Members of the commission are prohibited from certain activities during and after the commission’s work:

While serving on the commission, members may not endorse, work for, volunteer for or make a campaign contribution to a candidate for an elective city office
For five years commencing on appointment to the commission, a commission member is prohibited from being a candidate for an elective city office if the election for the office will be conducted using district boundaries adopted by the commission on which the member served
For two years commencing with appointment to the commission, a commission member may not accept an appointment to a city office
For four years commencing with appointment to the commission, a commission member may not:

Accept employment as a staff member of or consultant to an elected official or candidate for elective city office
Receive a noncompetitively bid contract with the city
Register as a lobbyist for the city

Application process

June 30, 2021	Applications were received by the City Clerk’s Office
July 13, 2021	The City Clerk Services Manager conducted a random drawing of the qualified applicants at a public meeting to select the seven commissioners and alternates.
July 29, 2021	The selected commissioners had their first meeting for orientation purposes.