News releases and other districting-related materials will be added here as they become available.
Informational Documents
- Districting Report
- Districting Postcard
- Public Hearing 1 Flyer | Español | 繁體中文 | Tagalog | Tiếng Việt
- Public Hearing 2 Flyer
- July 9 Community Workshop Flyer
Demographics
- % Renter Occupied Housing Units of Total Occupied Housing Units
- % of Total Population Living Below Poverty Level
- % of Adults Age 25 and Over with a High School Diploma or Greater
- Median Household Income
- Per Capita Income
City Publications
- The Stack: Special Online Workshop for Creation of Hayward City Council Districts to be held June 11
- Legal Settlement Affirms Hayward Move to District-Based Elections for Council
- City of Hayward Begins Process to Move to District-Based Elections For City Council
- The Stack: City of Hayward begins process to move to district-based elections for City Council
Videos
- Paper and Excel Districting Tool Tutorial
- Online Districting Tool Tutorial
- June 11 Workshop Recording
Online publications and guides to districting/redistricting:
Glossary of Districting Terms
A survey that releases data in four broad categories every year. The categories are: social, demographic, economic and housing. The ACS replaced the ‘long form’ of the census that was collected once every 10 years. The ACS does not report counts of the population but rather estimates.
In a jurisdiction (for example a city) with an at-large election system, all voters in the jurisdiction vote for all candidates running for office in that city. In at-large election systems, the candidates and office holders are eligible to hold office irrespective of where they live within the jurisdiction.
In a jurisdiction with a by-district election system, the voters from each district or division vote for the candidates running for office in the voters’ respective district. Elected officials and candidates must also live in the district that they represent or want to represent.
The California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA), prohibits the use of an at-large election in a political subdivision if it would impair the ability of a protected minority group to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election. The CVRA is different from the Federal Voting Rights Act (FVRA). Since the CVRA became law, many jurisdictions in California have changed from at-large to by-district elections.
The smallest level of census geography used by the Census Bureau to report census data. In urban areas, census blocks usually conform to city blocks, and in rural areas they are often delineated by other physical features and legal boundaries such as bodies of water and roads. Districting is based on census block level data.
A geographic area for which the census bureau releases data. Census tracts are relatively permanent ‘units of analysis’ that are delineated for the purpose of presenting decennial census data. Census tracts usually contain between 2,500 and 8,000 people. Census tracts may be split by local jurisdictional boundaries. Census blocks nest in census tracts.
A variable collected by the American Community Survey that is used in Voting Rights Act assessments. The population that is 18 years and older and a citizen of the United States.
Group of people with one or more specific common interests. For districting, communities of interest are defined geographically based on where people with common interests live.
Compactness often refers to a district’s shape and contours, focusing on how closely a district’s borders resemble a circle or square. When a district has ‘tentacles’ or oddly shaped borders, it is often said to be non-compact. In California, compactness in redistricting is defined as ‘not bypassing nearby population’ when constructing districts.
A contiguous district is one in which all parts are geographically connected to each other in some way. Within a contiguous district, one may travel from any location to any other location without crossing the district boundary. Some districts are “water-contiguous” which means that islands have to be connected to the mainland; others are contiguous via a bridge. Drawing contiguous districts is applying the criterion of ‘contiguity.’ If districts are only connected at one point, they are not considered contiguous.
A term used in Voting Rights that describes splitting significantly sized racial or ethnic communities into multiple districts, rather than keeping them together. Cracking is a particular problem when the division prevents the community from electing a candidate of its choice because it constitutes too small a portion of the electorate in the multiple districts.
Rules established in the law that the districting body must follow when drawing electoral division boundaries. For example, one criterion is that divisions have reasonably equal populations.
The difference between the total population of the electoral division and the ideal population of the division.
The process of creating equally populated electoral districts or divisions by using various criteria (such as Communities of Interest). In districting, electoral districts are created “from scratch” in a jurisdiction that does not currently have districts. Jurisdictions that do not have districts have “at-large” elections. Jurisdictions with districts redraw or adjust them (usually) every ten years after the release of the new census data to equalize the populations again. That process is called redistricting.
A GIS file (see definition below) that shows the relationship between two geographic units. In districting, this file usually lists each census block in the dataset and indicates which district each block belongs to. The collection of block assignments is read by GIS software and displayed as district lines.
The federal Voting Rights Act (FVRA) was originally passed in 1965 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or color. It has been amended several times, and now also prohibits discrimination based on membership in certain language minority groups.
A computer program for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth’s surface. Examples of commonly used GIS software include Google Earth, ArcGIS, Maptitude and MapInfo.
The total population for the jurisdiction as reported by the Census P.L 94-171 dataset divided by the number of districts. The ideal population is the number of people that each district should contain when the districting process is complete.
GIS term for spatial/geographic data files as they are displayed by GIS software. Map layers may display attribute data. Map layers could contain data for information such as roads, landmarks, demographics and more. The term ‘map layer’ is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘spatial file’ and ‘GIS data file.’
A term used in Voting Rights that describes over-concentrating a significantly sized racial or ethnic community within one district when it could have been allocated between two or more districts in which it would have had the ability to elect a candidate of its choice. Packing is a problem because over-concentrating a community in one district reduces or dilutes its ability to achieve fair representation in the legislative body in general.
Racially polarized voting occurs when voters of different races as a group tend to vote for different candidates. For example, in an area where white voters tend to vote against the candidates for which Asian American voters cast their ballots, racially polarized voting is present.
The districting criterion that implements the one-person, one-vote concept derived from the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The constitutionally mandated redrawing of local, state, and federal political boundaries every ten years following the U.S. census. Redistricting is done to equalize the populations in the districts, using various criteria.
The official name of the file that contains data used for districting and redistricting. Creation of this file, using data collected through the Decennial Census was mandated by federal Public Law 94-171. The P.L. 94-171 file reports basic demographic data for all people in the U.S. and is released on the census block level.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) prohibits voting practices, policies, or procedures that have a discriminatory purpose or effect on racial or language minorities; this section applies nationwide and is a permanent provision of the VRA. To be in compliance with Section 2 of the VRA districts must provide voters with an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
The difference between the lowest and the highest deviation of all districts.
The number of people aged 18 years or older.