Comm. 019 - 2021-10-13 (testimony) Common Cause Hawaii: October 14, 2021 Agenda of the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission

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COMMUNICATION 019 P.O. Box 2240 Hoiiolulu, Hawaii 96804 X` Common Cause Hawaii Holding Power Accountable October 13, 2021 808.275.6275 Redistricting Commission (Via Email Only) Office of the County Clerk 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1402 Hilo, HI 96720 RE: October 14, 2021, Agenda of the 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission Dear 2021 Hawaii County Redistricting Commission: Common Cause Hawaii is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy and ensuring a fair and transparent reapportionment and redistricting process. Common Cause Hawaii offers a sincere mahalo to this Commission for its work to count incarcerated people according to their home addresses as of April 1, 2020, the official Census Date, for the purposes of drawing council district lines. We ask the Commission to consider including this issue in your final report with a prompt for the Council to effect a charter amendment ensuring the fair and equitable count of incarcerated persons at their home addresses in the future rounds of Hawaii County redistricting efforts. Common Cause Hawaii also wants to be sure that any proposed map will not dilute the voting strength of the Native Hawaiian community. To this end, attached please find a map showing the distribution of the Native Hawaiian population in Hawaii County based on the American Community Survey (ACS). The U.S. Census, unfortunately, does not disaggregate the data to this level and consequently ACS data were used. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provides for drawing of majority minority districts to ensure that minority populations have a fair chance of electing candidates of their choice provided that certain criteria for drawing such majority minority districts may be met: • The minority group is sufficiently large and geographically concentrated to make up a majority in a district. • The minority group is politically cohesive. This means that the individuals that make up the group vote in similar patterns, e.g., they usually vote for the same candidates. • The white majority usually votes together to defeat the minority -preferred candidates. • Given the "totality of circumstances" listed above, the minority group has less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the electoral process and to elect representatives of its choice.