Editing Madera County, California (section)

== Government, policing, and politics ==
===Government===
The government of Madera County is mandated by the California Constitution to have a five-member Board of Supervisors elected to staggered four-year terms. The Board of Supervisors: District 1, Brett Frazier; District 2, David Rogers; District 3, Robert Poythress; District 4, Leticia Gonzalez; District 5, Tom Wheeler; and County Administrator, Jay Varney; and staff provide for voter registration and elections, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, roads, and social services for the entire county. It is the local government for all unincorporated areas. Other elected offices include the Sheriff, Tyson Pogue; District Attorney, Sally Orme Moreno; Assessor, Brian Glover (acting); Auditor-Controller, David Richstone; Treasurer-Tax Collector, Tracy Kennedy; and Clerk/Registrar of Voters-Recorder, Rebecca Martinez.

===Policing===
====Madera County Sheriff's Office====
The Sheriff's Office and staff provide court protection, jail administration, and coroner service for all of Madera County with its total population of approximately 156,000 residents. The Sheriff provides police patrol and detective services to the unincorporated areas of the county, which contain approximately 70,000 residents, or 45% of Madera County's total population. The Sheriff's main station and offices are in the City of Madera. There are two Sheriff's substations: Oakhurst, population 3,000, and The Madera Ranchos, population 12,000, both on Highway 41 to Yosemite National Park in the Sierras.

====Municipal police departments====
The municipal police departments within Madera County are Madera, the county seat, population 62,000, and Chowchilla, population 19,600.

===Correctional Facilities===
Madera County has three correctional facilities. The first is the Madera County Jail, managed by the elected Sheriff. The second, [[Valley State Prison]], is a state-run prison located in Chowchilla.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/vsp/ |title=Valley State Prison (VSP) |publisher=California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation |access-date=February 14, 2024}}</ref> The third, the [[Central California Women's Facility]], is also in [[Chowchilla]], across from Valley State Prison. Inmates are counted in the county's census population.

===Politics===
====Voter registration====

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
! colspan="3" | Population and registered voters
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Total population<ref name="US-CB-B02001">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. [https://www.census.gov U.S. Census website]. Retrieved October 26, 2013.</ref>
| colspan="2" | 149,611
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS">California Secretary of State. [http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf February 10, 2013 - Report of Registration] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727173649/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf |date=July 27, 2013 }}. Retrieved October 31, 2013.</ref><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note>Percentage of registered voters with respect to total population. Percentages of party members with respect to registered voters follow.</ref>
| 53,782
| 35.9%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 18,212
| 33.9%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 23,858
| 44.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic–Republican spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-5,646'''</span>
| <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-10.5%'''</span>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Independent<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 1,615
| 3.0%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Green<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 208
| 0.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Libertarian<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 264
| 0.5%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Peace and Freedom<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 131
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Americans Elect<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 0
| 0.0%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 191
| 0.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 9,303
| 17.3%
|}

==== Cities by population and voter registration ====

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed sortable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! colspan="8" | Cities by population and voter registration
|-
! City
! data-sort-type="number" | Population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS"/><br /><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | D–R spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
|-
| [[Chowchilla, California|Chowchilla]] || 18,465 || 22.5% || 30.8% || 45.1% || <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-14.3%'''</span> || 9.0% || 18.8%
|-
| [[Madera, California|Madera]] || 60,221 || 26.8% || 44.9% || 33.1% || <span style="color: #2b00d6;">'''+11.8%'''</span> || 6.2% || 18.4%
|}

=== Overview ===
Madera is a strongly [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] county in presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[United States presidential election in California, 1976|1976]].

{{PresHead|place=Madera County, California|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>|source2=<ref group=note>This total comprised 943 votes for [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (who was official Republican nominee in California), 226 votes for [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] [[Eugene V. Debs]] and 89 votes for [[Prohibition Party]] nominee [[Eugene W. Chafin]].</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|32,344|20,981|1,307|California}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|29,378|23,168|1,186|California}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|23,357|17,029|3,121|California}} 
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|22,852|16,018|1,063|California}} 
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|23,583|17,952|939|California}} 
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|24,871|13,481|498|California}} 
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|20,283|11,650|1,462|California}} 
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|16,510|11,254|2,898|California}} 
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|13,066|10,863|6,316|California}} 
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|13,255|10,642|384|California}} 
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|13,954|8,994|293|California}} 
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|10,599|7,783|1,398|California}} 
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|6,844|7,625|423|California}} 
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|7,835|6,580|477|California}} 
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|6,229|6,932|1,142|California}} 
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|4,461|9,391|10|California}} 
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|5,869|8,126|62|California}} 
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|5,239|7,162|38|California}} 
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|6,278|6,244|118|California}} 
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|3,416|5,226|340|California}} 
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|2,865|4,276|49|California}} 
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|2,653|5,749|101|California}} 
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,387|4,646|101|California}} 
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,243|3,457|228|California}} 
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|2,354|1,896|39|California}} 
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|1,518|450|1,590|California}} 
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|1,779|1,145|284|California}} 
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,323|1,880|278|California}} 
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1|1,154|1,264|California}} 
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|596|574|159|California}} 
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|784|610|118|California}} 
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|764|737|40|California}} 
{{PresFoot|1896|Democratic|452|739|20|California}}

Madera is split between the [[California's 5th congressional district|5th]] and [[California's 13th congressional district|13th]] congressional districts,<ref>{{Cite web
 | url = http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_072011/handouts_20110729_q2_cd_finaldraft_splits.zip
 | title = Counties by County and by District
 | publisher = California Citizens Redistricting Commission
 | access-date = September 24, 2014
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130930184128/http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_072011/handouts_20110729_q2_cd_finaldraft_splits.zip
 | archive-date = September 30, 2013
| url-status = dead
 }}</ref> represented by {{Representative|cacd|5}} and {{Representative|cacd|13}}, respectively.<ref>{{Cite GovTrack|CA|4|access-date=March 1, 2013}}</ref>

With respect to the [[California State Assembly]], the county is in {{Representative|caad|5|fmt=adistrict}}.

In the [[California State Senate]], Madera is split between {{Representative|casd|8|fmt=sdistrict}}, and {{Representative|casd|12|fmt=sdistrict}}.<ref>{{Cite web
 | url = http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_072011/handouts_20110729_q2_sd_finaldraft_splits.zip
 | title = Communities of Interest&nbsp;— County
 | publisher = California Citizens Redistricting Commission
 | access-date = September 28, 2014
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151023054153/http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_072011/handouts_20110729_q2_sd_finaldraft_splits.zip
 | archive-date = October 23, 2015
| url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

On November 4, 2008, Madera County voted 73.4% for Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowen |first=Debra |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2008-general/sov_complete.pdf |title=Statement of Vote November 4th, 2008, General Election |publisher=California Secretary of State |year=2008 |location=California |pages=13}}</ref>

The county is one of three counties in California to establish a separate department to deal with [[corrections]], pursuant to California Government Code §23013, the [[Madera County Department of Corrections]], along with [[Napa County]] and [[Santa Clara County]]. The officers receive their powers under 831 and 831.5 of the California Penal Code.<ref>{{cite web|title=California Penal Code - PEN|url=http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-830-1.html|work=FindLaw|access-date=January 26, 2017}}</ref>