Redistricting

San Diego City Charter § 5

in effect

Section 5: Redistricting In the event that any voting precinct established is located partly within two or more Council districts, the precinct shall be allocated to the Council district in which a majority of the voters within the precinct resides, and the district boundaries shall be changed accordingly. The City shall be redistricted pursuant to Section 5.1 of this Charter at least once in every ten years, but no later than nine months following the City’s receipt of the final Federal Decennial Census information. The term “Federal Decennial Census,” as used in this Charter, shall mean the national decennial census taken under the direction of the United States Congress at the beginning of each decade. Any territory hereafter annexed to or consolidated with The City of San Diego shall at the time of such annexation or consolidation be added to an adjacent district or districts by an ordinance of the Council. However, if any territory annexed, deannexed or consolidated upsets the approximate equality of the populations of the established districts, a redistricting shall be conducted pursuant to Section 5.1 of this Charter, except that the nomination period for appointment to the Redistricting Commission shall commence on the May 1 immediately succeeding the annexation, deannexation or consolidation and the Redistricting Commission shall be constituted no later than the next November 1. In any redistricting, the districts shall be comprised of contiguous territory and made as equal in population as shown by the census reports, and as geographically compact as possible, and the districts formed shall, as far as possible, be bounded by natural boundaries, by street lines and/or by City boundary lines. (Amendment voted 06-02-1992; effective 07-13-1992.) (Amendment voted 06-07-2016; effective 07-18-2016.)

Source: City of San Diego Office of the City Clerk, San Diego Municipal Code and City Charter (docs.sandiego.gov PDFs)URL: https://docs.sandiego.gov/citycharter/Article%20II.pdf#page=1Fetched: 10/28/2026