Transition to District Elections

Background

At a meeting on August 19, 2024, the City Council discussed a letter received from a potential plaintiffs’ attorney, Shenkman & Hughes PC, on July 22, 2024, alleging a violation of the California Voting Rights Act (the “CVRA”) and threatening litigation if the City declines to voluntarily change to a district-based election system for electing Councilmembers. A majority of the Council gave direction to staff to proceed with agendizing the resolution of intent in order to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of Elections Code section 10010 and avoid costly litigation. At the meeting on September 3, 2024, the City Council approved City Resolution No. 2024-91 declaring Foster City's intent to initiate procedures to transition from at-large election to district-based elections.

The City of Foster City currently employs an at-large elections system, in which voters of the entire City elect the five City Council members. A district-based election is one in which the City is divided into separate districts, each with one City Council member who resides in the district and is chosen by the voters in that particular district. Once the transition away from at-large elections is completed, the district-election system will be introduced for the 2026 election.

Process

The City needs to hold at least two public hearings over a period of no more than 30 days, at which the public is invited to provide input regarding the composition of the districts. While the public can begin drawing maps, official maps can not be drawn by the city or its consultant before completion of these two public meetings. Once the initial two meetings are complete, the hired demographer can begin to officially draw maps that will be considered in the districting process along with any publicly drawn maps. The City would then hold at least two additional hearings over a period of no more than 45 days, at which the public is invited to provide input regarding the content of the draft maps and the proposed sequence of elections. Only maps that have been public for seven days can be considered at any public hearings. Once a map is selected, it would need to be published at least seven days before consideration at a hearing for introduction of an ordinance to adopt the district map.

Foster City has established the following tentative timeline to complete the transition:

Monday, October 7, 2024: First public hearing
Monday, October 21, 2024: Second public hearing
Monday, November 4, 2024: Third public hearing (first maps hearing)
Monday, November 18, 2024: Fourth public hearing
Monday, December 2, 2024: Fifth public hearing (final vote)

Please attend the City Council meeting on Monday, October 7, 2024, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 620 Foster City Blvd. to learn more about the transition to district elections. And please stay engaged throughout this process. Your participation is critical to assure the community's values and interests are reflected as district lines are drawn and a final map is ultimately selected. To grant ample opportunities for residents and community members to have their voice heard, City staff and consultants will be hosting a variety of outreach events over the coming weeks and months. This webpage will be continuously updated with dates and locations where community members can share their feedback on this issue. Questions, comments, or other feedback can also be sent to districtelections@fostercity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is districting?

Districting is the establishment of boundaries for election districts. It determines who can run and who can vote in each district. Candidates and voters must live within their respective election districts. This does not impact city services to the public. The only change the districting process creates is how City Council Members are elected.

Districting only happens once. After City Council boundaries are established, the City will conduct redistrictings to balance the district populations following the results of each decennial census, with the next U.S. Census collection being 2030. This ensures that each elected official represents about the same number of constituents. All district lines must be reviewed to meet strict requirements for population equality and voting rights protections in accordance with the Federal Voting Rights Act and the California Elections Code.

Why does districting matter?

Districting determines which neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing a City Council member. The City Council is seeking input on the district voting map for Foster City. Community members have an opportunity to share with the City Council how they think district boundaries should be drawn to best represent their community.

What is the criteria for shaping districts?

Many factors may be considered, but population equality is the most important. Other factors include:

Topography: natural barriers, boundaries or landmarks.

Geography: major streets and neighborhood blocks.

Cohesiveness: contiguity, integrity and compactness of the area.

Communities of interest: established neighborhoods, groups with cultural bonds, common issues or concerns, voting precincts or other types of divisions.

Community input and Census data will be used to create districts. The City has hired professional demographer Redistricting Partners to help create proposed district boundaries. In the coming weeks, the community will have access to ‘public mapping tool kits’ to provide feedback on how districts could be drawn. The City’s hired demographer will draft proposed maps that ensure compliance with the Federal Voting Rights Act and the California Voting Rights Act requirements. The City Council would then adopt the final district map by ordinance.

What are Communities of Interest?

A community of interest is a “contiguous population that shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.” They are the overlapping sets of neighborhoods, networks, and groups that share interests, views, cultures, histories, languages, and values and whose boundaries can be identified on a map. The following are examples of what can be considered communities of interest:

Shared interests in schools, housing, community safety, transit, health conditions, land use, environmental conditions, and/or other issues.
Common social and civic networks, including churches, mosques, temples, homeowner associations, and community centers, and shared use of community spaces, like parks and shopping centers.
Racial and ethnic compositions, cultural identities, and households that predominantly speak a language other than English.
Similar socio-economic status, including but not limited to income, home-ownership, and education levels.
Shared political boundary lines from other jurisdictions, such as school districts, community college districts, and water districts.