A nonprofit advocacy group representing the Chaldean community in San Diego is suing the county alleging that a redistricting plan that split a part of East County area where many members of the community live into two supervisorial districts politically disenfranchises them.

The nonprofit Chaldean Coalition sued the County of San Diego, its Independent Redistricting Commission, and Registrar of Voters Cynthia Paes in San Diego Superior Court on March 4 to prevent them from using the new voting district maps approved in December by the commission. The new maps are part of the 10-year redistricting required by law to accommodate demographic changes reported by the U.S. Census.

The lawsuit alleges that splitting an area that includes parts of the El Cajon region away from the rest of East County would unlawfully diminish the voting power of Chaldeans, a religious and ethnic minority group.

An estimated 50,000 Chaldeans live in the San Diego region, many in the area of Rancho San Diego and El Cajon, according to the lawsuit. The community, which has historically voted for conservative candidates and causes, was in the conservative-learning 2nd Supervisorial District before redistricting and is represented by Republican Supervisor Joel Anderson.

The new district lines put about 20 percent of the community in District 4, which tends to vote for liberal causes and candidates and is represented by Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, a Democrat.

Lawsuit says new districts disenfranchise Chaldeans

"The district boundaries may not be drawn in a way that splits up a racial minority group -- whether intentionally or otherwise," said the group's attorney, Paul M. Jonna, in a statement Monday. "Yet that is exactly what has happened here. The County of San Diego Redistricting Commission, in drawing the county's new supervisorial district boundaries, split the Chaldean religious and ethnic group living in East County right down the middle."

A county spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The Independent Redistricting Commission spent more than a year redrawing the voting boundary lines for the county's five supervisory districts.

County officials have said in prior statements that the commission maintained substantially equal populations in each district, while complying with the federal Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting. The commission also respected "the geographic integrity of city, local neighborhood or communities of interest, to the extent practicable," county officials said.

Though the commission was legally required to consider such factors as population, contiguity, compactness, local jurisdictions and communities of interest, it was not allowed to consider the effects on political parties or politicians, officials have said.

The California Supreme Court has said in its opinions that district boundaries should not be drawn in a manner that splits up minority groups.

The Chaldeans are a group that comes largely from Iraq, where Chaldeans were persecuted for their language and in more recent years were killed because of their Christian religion.

When the commission was deciding on a redistricting map it heard competing points of view from community groups, including from Black San Diegans, new immigrants, refugees, and Chaldeans. The latest map was a compromise, commissioners said at the time.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the new districts illegal and unconstitutional. It also asks the court to restrain the county and other respondents from using the map until the commission draws new lines that comply with the law, "including, but not limited to, moving Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley, entirely or in part, to District 2."