Kings to hold third redistricting hearing 10 a.m. Tuesday

Aug. 26—Kings County will hold the last public hearing before the release of draft redistricting during next Tuesday's board meeting at 10 a.m., allowing residents to make testimony on communities or interest and learn about mapping tools.

According to a redistricting press release sent out Monday, residents will be able to make testimony on how they think lines should be drawn and what communities of interest, or groups with similar interests who should not be split up by districts, exist in the county.

It will also go over the redistricting process and the five main mapping tools available for residents to draw draft maps.

Redistricting happens every ten years when new census data is available and is the process of redrawing district boundaries to make sure they have even populations. It will take place at many levels of government in the near future.

Residents are able to submit draft maps, which will be considered by the County in selecting and drawing new districts, using five main tools.

Maps can be printed and drawn on, with population counts, and emailed to redistricting@co.kings.ca.us or sent to 1400 W. Lacey Blvd. Law Bldg. #4, Hanford, CA 93230.

There are also four online mapping tools, DistrictR, Caliper's Maptitude Online Redistricting, Story Map and interactive mapping tools like Google Maps, which can be used. They have varying levels of complexity and can be found on redistrictkings.com/draw-a-map/.

The release said residents can start drawing maps now, but may want to wait until both official Census data has been released, which happened Aug. 12, and has been re-calibrated for incarcerated populations, which could take another three to eight weeks.

After Tuesday, only two more public hearings will be held Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 10 a.m.