CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING AND REPRESENTATION: LOS ANGELES COUNTY'S CHICANO COMMUNITY

Political representation is a basic and necessary condition of democratic life. The nature of legislative district boundary lines is a major determinant of the quality and fairness of political representation. Subsequent to the decennial U.S. Census population count, states must redraw or redistrict their congressional and state legislative district boundary lines.;This study will explain why and how the California state legislature's redistricting has weakened or hampered the opportunities for increased political representation and influence for Los Angeles County's Latino community. It will present model plans that will increase Latino political representation and influence in Los Angeles County's Assembly, Senate and Congressional districts.;The rationale and methodology involved in the development of these model plans will be presented. A prototype of Chicano voter turnout level will be offered within the framework of an analysis of a model district general election which is safely Democratic, and has equal numbers of Anglo and Latino Democratic voters. The purpose of this exploratory analysis is to acertain the minimum Latino population needed for a Latino candidate to be elected in Los Angeles County.;There is an analysis of the political impact of three plans for the Chicano community and Los Angeles County as a whole: (1) the California State Supreme Court's 1973 plans; (2) the model plans of this work; and (3) the state legislature's 1981 plans passed in September of that year.;The Los Angeles County Latino community (2,065,727 in 1980) traditionally has been either unrepresented or underrepresented in the California state legislature and Congressional delegation. This work will analyze some of the reasons for this problem and present exploratory findings which would be useful to policy makers, researchers, media reporters, and others who are interested in the issue of representation for the Latino community.