Only Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez opposed Supervisors’ redistricting vote

RIVERSIDE COUNTY — District Supervisor Manuel Perez is getting accolades for being the lone dissenter during the Riverside County redistricting vote this week.

State Assemblymembers Eduardo Garcia, Sabrina Cervantes, and Jose Medina released a joint statement regarding Riverside County’s supervisorial redistricting process in which Fourth District Supervisor Manuel Perez cast the dissenting vote.

“We’d like to thank Supervisor Manuel Perez, the only Latino to ever serve on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, for his efforts to fight for a fair redistricting process. However, we are deeply disappointed that a majority of the members of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors chose a map that violates state and federal law by intentionally fracturing compact and cohesive communities of Latino voters into multiple districts. Numerous civil rights organizations joined us in publicly warning the County about the dangers of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1964 and the FAIR MAPS Act, but a majority of the Board and their staffs took no meaningful steps to address these concerns. We fear that hardworking Riverside County taxpayers will ultimately be forced to foot the County’s bill for an expensive lawsuit defending a map that is legally indefensible.”

Despite concerns from Perez, advocacy groups, community members that the adopted map is out of compliance with federal voting law, Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave final approval to its redistricting proposal.

The controversial vote comes one week before the deadline for approval of a new map, which is required every 10 years in response to the latest U.S. Census.

The map, which is designed to account for the county’s 10.4% population growth over the past decade, will trigger substantial changes to the county’s western districts, unifying the city of Riverside within one district alongside Perris and Mead Valley, while splitting part of Jurupa Valley into a district that spans the county’s western border.

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  • Supervisor V. Manuel Perez: Supervisor V. Manuel Perez