New City Council district map drastically moves neighborhoods

The Honolulu Reapportionment Committee on Tuesday night selected a map that would would drastically change the voter makeup of Council districts beginning in 2022.

Every 10 years, using U.S. census data, the city Reapportionment Commission is tasked with redrawing the Council district lines to address fluctuations in population.

Commissioners selected Kaena/Makapuu Draft Plan 1, which heavily modifies Districts 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

The commission was considering three potential versions of the maps: the Modified Existing District plan, which maintains the current districts; and two drafts of a Kaena/Makapuu plan that would heavily modify certain districts and allow each to extend from the mountains to the ocean in an ahupuaa, or subdivision of land, style that commissioners thought could be a more natural way of map-drawing.

Commissioner Chace Shigemasa amended the Kaena/Makapuu Draft Plan 1 to join Mililani Mauka and Mililani town into District 8 with Pearl City. Many testifiers at the public meetings encouraged commissioners to join Mililani Mauka and Mililani town as none of current voting maps at the state or county level keep Mililani intact. In turn, to even out the population in other districts, the amendment moved portions of Waipahu into District 9 with Ewa Beach. It also moves portions of Waikele into District 2 with the North Shore.

“Receiving testimony from the community, there are many voices which requested the possibility of keeping Mililani intact as one community. This amendment accomplishes that,” Shigemasa said.

Commission chairman James “Duke” Aiona and Commissioner Daniel Douglass voted against the map. Their concerns centered around the upcoming election cycle, which would be affected by changes.

City Council members have four-year terms. Elections alternate, with even-numbered districts having elections in even years and odd-numbered districts having elections in the odd years. The last even-numbered City Council election happened in 2018, which means 2022 is an election year. However, because the Kaena/Makapuu draft would move areas such as Moanalua Valley, Moanalua Gardens, Red Hill, Fort Shafter, Pearlridge, Makiki Heights, Tantalus and portions of the Kakaako block from an even district to an odd district, people who live in those communities would have to wait until 2025 to vote again for a Council seat.

The commission does not have the power to call for an election of all Council districts after reapportionment. It was suggested during the meeting by some commissioners to ask the City Council to consider a City Charter amendment to allow a special election to happen after reapportionment to remedy the issue.

Aiona noted that with the changes, District 2, Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi’s, now would be significantly geographically larger and could create burdens for her upcoming election in 2022. Aiona was appointed to the commission by Tsune­yoshi, but he assured members that was not a consideration for his comments.

Corporation Counsel Duane Pang did not comment on whether the map created burdens for Tsuneyoshi’s campaign. However, he said that if the selected map unduly burdened a particular candidate, it would favor other candidates, which is against the City Charter and could be grounds for a court challenge.

After the plan is filed, registered voters have 45 days to petition for court action against the new map.

One of the pieces of information that commissioners need to consider when making amendments to the maps is complying with a one-person, one-vote rule that requires each district to have the same number of people. Given that full compliance can be problematic, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a deviation under 10% is acceptable.

The new map has a deviation of 3.3%. The current map has a deviation of 6.8%.

Commission support staff now will put together the final report to file it with the city clerk; commissioners will have to sign it by Jan. 2.

After it’s filed with the city clerk’s office, the plan will be in effect for the next election. The plan does not need to be approved by the Council or the mayor. Hawaii is one of only 10 states that use reapportionment committees instead of lawmakers to draw district maps. The commission cannot have more members of one political party than the other. The idea is that it would decrease the opportunities for gerrymandering.