BigSkyBob
Sr. Member
Posts: 2,531
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« on: May 01, 2013, 11:33:51 AM » |
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Last November, Austin approved switching to district elections for its city council. Currently, Austin (800,000 persons) is the largest US city with at-large elections. Since it doesn't have districts, this is not redistricting. See if this sounds familiar:
Austin Districting Process
Application Review Panel of 3 independent auditors is drawn.
The Application Review Panel will select 60 of the most qualified applicants for the Citizens Redistricting Commission based on: "relevant analytical skills, the ability to be impartial, residency in various parts of the City of Austin, and an appreciation for Austin’s diverse demographics and geography. "
Each member of the city council may then strike one person from of the pool of 60.
8 persons will be drawn at random, and those 8 will select 6 others to ensure the panel "represents the diversity of Austin." At least one of the 14 must be a student (at UT or a community college).
There were 544 applicants for the commission, 92 were removed for various things such as conflict of interest, not being registered to vote, or failure to vote consistently, or incomplete applications.
California?
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