Imperial County looks to expand district boundary lines

U.S. Census results may effect redistricting process - News 11's Wiley Jawhary reports

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - For the first time in 10 years, Imperial County is looking to make some changes in order to balance out how many locals live in each district.

Imperial County wants to make sure that each county supervisor is given an equal amount of population that they are representing. The process is known as re-districting and takes place every 10 years.

Redistricting takes place after the U.S. Census Bureau releases new data. Because Imperial County only showed a 3% increase in population, committee members say redistricting might be challenging.

“But again it's based on population and the census did not come out as strong so it's going to be limited, but we can expand,” Eric Reyes a redistricting committee member said.

Overall a population increase means more funding for Imperial County. It's just a matter of where the money goes and what cities end up benefitting the most.

Intergovernmental Relations Director Rebecca Baxter is calling on residents to help.

“We need the public's input as to how those lines should be drawn it's important to know what the community believes or either community of interest or where they have identified some natural boundaries to be," she said.

Now the county says that more data will be released at the end of September which should help simplify redistricting efforts.