The most sweeping bills to change California elections got shelved in the Legislature. Instead, lawmakers are focusing on ballot measure language, local redistricting, voting integrity and campaign finance tweaks before the 2024 election.

The city in May replaced the litigious map that met all federal and state redistricting requirements.

Judge Julie A. Emede, ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against the city of Morgan Hill by former Mayor Steve Tate and three other residents, said the redistricting map approved by the council in March violates the California Fair Maps Act.

The three new congressional districts for the San Jose metro area include the first majority Latino district, and another that is the first predominantly Asian district.

The latest supervisor district map creates a "majority-minority" Asian-Pacific Islander district in District 3, maintains a high Latino influence district in District 2 and removes Los Gatos and Almaden Valley from District 1 and places them in District 5.

The 2022 mayor’s race is shaping up as a three-person contest according to the latest San Jose Inside Power Poll.

Endorsements from supervisors Susan Ellenberg and Cindy Chavez mean two of the voters aren’t exactly impartial decision makers.

An FAQ for voters on California redistricting as the state’s independent commission works toward releasing preliminary congressional and legislative maps on Nov. 10.

Across the state, organizers are banding together to make sure new congressional, legislative and local districts lead to diverse representation. The track record of the Citizens Redistricting Commission is mixed, according to two recent studies.

Voters love term limits for politicians, but they shouldn’t. The quaint notion that public service should be held only for utilitarian purposes for a short period of time, and that these limits create better government, is misguided and fundamentally flawed. The proof can be seen locally in the current mire that represents our public policy.

With the filing deadline for the June primary coming up on Friday, I thought we’d take a closer look at the 2011 redistricting process that created the current San José City Council districts. It was the second consecutive redistricting process that saw very few changes to the geography of San Jose’s political map. But you can’t blame them for not taking bolder steps. The City Charter left the commissioners only a few months to finish their work. Meanwhile, they were under siege from residents who’d prefer that nothing ever change. Ever.

The 2010 Census data came out and the good news, from my perspective, is the population of San Jose is not one million people but instead 945,942. However, I am told there is under-counting as some residents do not want to be counted. Our population growth rate has slowed to 5.7 percent as opposed to 37 percent in the 1970’s. The average people per household city wide is 3.14, however the average number of people per household in District 5 is 4.5.