Next Tuesday voters will decide who will represent Council District 4 as well as the fate of two amendments to the City Charter. The amendments, if passed, would modify the City’s election cycle to coincide with state and national elections.
Proponents say the measures will increase voter turnout especially in the elections in presidential years. Opponents worry that City elections would get lost among the other races and that it would also increase the terms for City Council members. (Council members elected in 2015 would serve and additional year as a one time adjustment for this election cycle.)
“In my view, this is not a bad idea,” explained Raphael Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “It’s a mainstream idea in urban government to try to counteract the declining voter participation in elections especially in non-presidential years.”
Though Sonenshein is not sure it will work as well as proponents say, he thinks it does makes sense to try to give voters that are more likely to vote in presidential and gubernatorial years, and who are often younger and more diverse, a better chance to be involved in city races.
Sonenshein expects the measures to pass because all established political forces are behind it. There is vocal opposition among neighborhood council leadership and a few current and former city council members including Rita Walters, Bernard Parks and Joan Milke Flores, and Eastside County Supervisor Gloria Molina (now running for the City Council).
Currently, City and State elections are held in different years. The City Charter requires City elections to be held in March and May of odd-numbered years. State elections are held in June and November of even-numbered years. If passed, Charter Amendment 1 would change the City’s election dates to the same dates as State elections beginning in 2020. To shift to the new election dates, candidates elected in 2015 and 2017 would serve a term of 5/1 2 years.
Charter Amendment 2 would modify the elections for members of the school board to align with city elections as required by the city charter so both measures have to pass together. For more information, visit the League of Women Voters website.
What do you think about putting local elections in the national election line-up?
