City council to consider change in elections process
–At the next Paso Robles City Council meeting on Sept. 25, the council will consider adopting a resolution that would dramatically change the way that Paso Robles hosts its elections.
On Aug. 13, the city received a letter from Kevin Shenkman of the law firm of Shenkman & Hughes, containing allegations that the city’s at-large electoral system violates the California Voting Rights Act. Shenkman alleges evidence of Latino “polarized voting” in the city electorate and threatens litigation if the city does not adopt a by-district electoral system.
The City of Paso Robles currently elects its City Council through an “at-large” electoral system in which each councilmember may reside anywhere within the city’s boundaries, and each councilmember is elected by the voters of the entire electorate to provide city-wide representation.
A district-based election system is one in which a jurisdiction is physically divided into separate districts, each with one elected representative who resides in the district and is chosen only by the voters residing in that particular district. In a district-based system, voters within each district may only vote for one candidate every four years.
Read the full staff report here.
Related: Special city council meeting agenda posted
