The California Supreme Court has ruled this morning that California state Senate boundaries set by a 14-member citizens’ commission are legal for the June, 2012 primary and the November, 2012 general election.
The High Court ruled on the matter as a result of a Republican Party-backed signature drive seeking to overturn the Senate maps, which they contend are unfairly weighted and would give Democrats a chance at two extra seats in the State Senate – and the chance at holding a supermajority required to raise taxes or fees.
The redistricting commission held that the new districting maps were drawn after hours of public testimony and thousands of letters and should stand.
Because candidates needed to file their intentions and run their campaigns before the June primary, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on the matter. With this ruling, the way is now clear for Democratic Assemblymember Bill Monning’s campaign for State Senate.
Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting (FAIR), the Republican-backed group, has filed more than 711,000 signatures with California county elections offices which means that if 504,760 of those signatures are validated, the matter will go before the voters in November. The signatures must be certified by Feb. 24, 2012 and as of this date, Jan. 20, they have verified 57,761 signatures out of 80,127 they have checked. At 72 percent, and if it holds for the rest of the count, it will be sufficient to place the referendum on the ballot.