San Luis Obispo City Council elections are changing. Mayor Stewart explains why | Opinion

You may have heard that the way we elect council members in the city of San Luis Obispo is changing this year.

As San Luis Obispo’s legislative body, the City Council is made up of one elected mayor and four elected councilmembers. Every two years, voters citywide elect the mayor and two of the four councilmembers.

However, starting this year, instead of choosing up to two council candidates, voters must vote for one. The top two vote-getters will still be elected.

It sounds simple enough, right? Well, yes and no. This may seem simple, but how we got here is complicated.

Let’s be clear: We didn’t ask for this change. The city of San Luis Obispo, like many cities across the state and locally, faced a potential lawsuit if we didn’t make a change to our elections.

Here’s what happened: The city received a letter in February 2023 from a voter advocacy group demanding we switch from citywide elections to by-district elections based on racial demographics. They said our citywide elections were diluting Latine votes and violating the California Voting Rights Act. The city disagreed.

The city negotiated for several months with the same voter advocacy group and reached a compromise.

Rather than divide San Luis Obispo into districts or fight in court to keep things the same, we agreed to keep councilmember elections citywide, but everyone would get one vote instead of two.

Best compromise for everyone

Although negotiations were confidential, the City Council insisted that settlement terms be presented publicly. After about two years of deliberation, including several public discussions from 2024 through 2026, the City Council adopted Citywide Single Vote as the best compromise for everyone.

Here’s how we came to that conclusion:

First, this approach is already familiar to many community members. Over the years, more people have shared with me that they choose to vote for one person to help their candidate win.

This aligns with voting trends, as many local voters have only selected one council candidate in the last few election cycles. And in the last election, we saw the most (about 70% of voters) select only one candidate, even though they could have chosen two.

Second, this voting method allows you to keep voting in every councilmember election and allows you to choose the best candidate from across the city. In contrast, districts would limit your participation to every other election (every four years) and would limit your choice to candidates who live in your district, even if you prefer a candidate who lives elsewhere in San Luis Obispo.

Third, keeping elections citywide and giving everyone a single vote creates a level playing field for every voter. District elections can be effective at improving minority representation in some cities, but SLO’s demographics do not show clear benefits. Data shows that minority communities are dispersed here, and local minority group leaders argued that splitting up San Luis Obispo could weaken coalition‑building and reduce their voter participation, having the opposite effect on minority representation intended by the California Voting Rights Act.

Finally, this is the fiscally responsible choice. When we got the demand to switch from citywide elections to by-district elections, we could have fought in court to keep elections the same. However, litigation is risky and no city in California has ever won a similar lawsuit to keep elections citywide. Some cities have spent millions of taxpayer dollars defending their case in court. Ultimately, the City Council made the fiscally responsible choice in adopting Citywide Single Vote for councilmembers.

Ways to get involved

We hear you. We know that this change is hard to understand. We know that some community members wanted to keep local elections as they were, while others wanted to divide San Luis Obispo into districts or wanted a different voting method altogether.

The good news is that the conversation is not completely finished. The City Council and staff will be watching the November 2026 election closely. The city can adjust course and switch to districts, if needed. In the meantime, San Luis Obispo is moving forward with Citywide Single Vote as the best compromise for our community.

We will take every opportunity to make sure everyone knows how to make their vote count this year. You can look forward to informative mailers, helpful videos and lots of conversations at community meetings, local events, online forums and probably even while you’re walking in your neighborhood.

Do you want the city to come to your neighborhood or group meeting to provide more information on Citywide Single Vote for councilmembers? Visit www.slocity.org/SingleVote for details or email us at voting@slocity.org.