Could SLO be forced to elect council members by district? A new fight is brewing
After claims that San Luis Obispo’s current election system violates the California Voting Rights Act, the city must figure out whether it wants to start the arduous process of switching to a new system — or face potential legal action.
In February, attorney Kevin I. Shenkman served the city with a demand letter on behalf of his client, the nonprofit Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.
The letter claimed that San Luis Obispo’s current at-large election system for the choosing City Council members and the mayor violates the California Voting Rights Act because it dilutes the influence of Latino voters in elections.
It demanded the city transition to district elections instead.
The City Council received an update on the letter at a closed session meeting Tuesday night.
City Attorney Christine Dietrick said the city is looking into the claims, but believes that its current voting system complies with the act.
“To date, the city’s data analysis has not supported the conclusion that moving to districts in the city would advance underrepresented group participation or representation on the council,” she said.
Dietrick added that the city supports the objectives of the California Voting Rights Act and is committed to finding ways to “enhance the objectives of equitable representation in the city.”
SLO County cities switch to district elections after demands
Other state and local cities have received similar letters in recent years, prompting them to change their election systems so that council members are selected by district, rather than from the city as a whole.
Grover Beach, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo received legal threats in 2018 and 2019 demanding those cities switch to district elections because their then-current systems diluted Latino votes.
Rather than risk lawsuits, Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Grover Beach all complied with the demand and have since transitioned to district elections.
San Luis Obispo, however, previously held that that demand would not protect minority groups from losing voting influence and denied that the city had a systemic problem in its election process to begin with.
Since then, the issue has made its way to California courts.
In 2016, Pico Neighborhood Association, Maria Loya and Advocates for Malibu Public Schools filed a complaint in California Superior Court alleging that Santa Monica’s at-large election system violated the state’s voting rights act.
The court first ruled against the city, but an appeals court ruled in its favor, saying at-large elections did not disenfranchise minority voters.
The case was then moved up to the California Supreme Court, which on Aug. 24 pushed it back to the Appeals Court for another review.
City attorney: ‘We would hope to identify the best path forward’
Now that it has received a second letter pushing for a switch to a different election system, Dietrick said the city is “in the process of further evaluating city-specific voting data in the context of the additional guidance” from the Santa Monica case rulings.
Dietrick said San Luis Obispo is in “very constructive ongoing discussions,” with Shenkman and “representatives of affected city residents and voters.”
“Together, we would hope to identify the best path forward to continue with the city’s momentum and commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in our community,” Dietrick wrote.
She added that the city is continuing its discussions with Shenkman to at least Oct. 18.
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