El Cerrito City Council narrows maps under consideration for district elections to two
Update: Map selected
Image: Two possible maps for dividing El Cerrito into council districts from Redistricting Partners.
The El Cerrito City Council continued discussion June 16 of how to break El Cerrito into five districts for future council elections. Starting in 2028, residents in each district will elect someone from that district to represent them on the council. The council chose two maps to bring forward with the intent of adopting one of them at a public hearing July 7.
COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST - RENTERS AND FIRE DANGER
The city has been looking at a number of maps submitted by the public and produced by a consultant. A key requirement for creating the map is to group together people with some interest in common. In particular, the council talked about grouping together renters into two districts, generally in the area of San Pablo Avenue. The city is looking at two rather than one renter-heavy district because one isn’t enough to encompass the high concentration of renters. They also discussed grouping people living in areas of greatest fire danger.
There was also discussion of creating districts with diverse populations, particularly a mix of residents who live in the hills and flatter areas. Consultant Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners and City Attorney Sky Woodruff said that is not the intent of the law.
WHY THE CITY IS GOING TO DISTRICT ELECTIONS
The change is being driven by the 2002 California Voting Rights Act, which is intended to ensure underrepresented communities, such as Black, Latino, and Asian Americans, have a fair chance to elect candidates of their choice.
El Cerrito City Council members have said the transition to district elections doesn’t make sense in El Cerrito, where different ethnic groups tend to be scattered throughout the city rather than concentrated in specific areas, and where the council makeup includes an African-American woman, an Asian woman, a Filipino American man, a white man, and a white woman.
El Cerrito, with about 26,000 residents, is smaller than most cities that have gone to district-based elections.
According to an April 2025 report by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, 47% of California cities are now district based, but the percentage varies widely by the size of the city. For very large cities, those with a population of 200,000 or more, the percentage is 100% while it drops to 25% for cities under 35,000.
However, the city received a letter from a law firm representing an anonymous resident saying it is in violation of the act. City Attorney Woodruff told the council that cities that have tried to fight the move to district elections have lost. To limit its financial liability, the city needed to declare its intent to move to district elections within 45 days of receiving the letter in March, and has 90 days after that April 21 declaration to finish the process. Within that time, it must hold at least five public hearings. Any new draft map that it considers has to be available to the public for seven days before it can be approved by the council.
THE TWO DISTRICT MAPS UNDER CONSIDERATION
Scroll down within each link past the map for more information
MORE INFORMATION
Below is the packet from the June 16 council meeting. The move to district elections is item 4 and the recording of the meeting can be reached from the link on the left (on most devices other than phones) labeled “Meeting media.”
City webpage on the transition to district elections
Letter saying the city is in violation of the California Voting Rights Act
Rose Institute of State and Local Government April 2025 report
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