Santa Barbara County redistricting commission to discuss final draft map at Wednesday night meeting

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – Santa Barbara County is in the final stretch of redrawing district lines for elections.

The redistricting commission is holding a public meeting to potentially finalize a map.

It shifts Isla Vista into the second district for the first time.

The third district includes Lompoc, the Santa Ynez Valley and parts of the Goleta Valley.

Vandenberg Village through Orcutt and part of Santa Maria makes up the fourth district.

Guadalupe moves into the fifth district with northern Santa Maria.

This map was chosen on Saturday after about nine hours of discussion.

District lines for congress, state legislature, county supervisors, city councils, school boards and other elected officials are redrawn every 10 years based on updated census data.

The commission says drawing districts is incredibly important, as it determines how the community is represented by government officials.

The public is invited to talk about their opinions at the planning commission room in  Santa Barbara, or over zoom.

“We’ll have a final round of opportunity to tell us what they think of the map,” said the Planning Commission Chair Glenn Morris. “I suspect we will get a number of people who will take advantage of the opportunity and give public comments.”

If everything goes as planned, the final draft map should be adopted. if not, the commission still has a week to finalize the map.