Districting is bad for Millbrae, councilmembers say

State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, is currently working on legislation that Vice Mayor Gina Papan said could help offer small cities like Millbrae more freedom in choosing whether to hold at-large elections. 

“The senator is closely watching Millbrae,” Papan said. “His staff believes, as we believe, that smaller cities should be exempt from the legislation. We are helping that process.” 

Papan and Councilmember Ann Schneider have been strong advocates for at-large elections, both maintaining that they offer voters increased choice. The switch to district elections was intended to promote equity but is failing in small cities, Schneider claimed, citing several recent examples of minority candidates losing to white candidates in San Mateo County. 

“If the goal of the [California Voting Rights Act] is minority representation, the [California Voting Rights Act] is not working, and therefore, the path forward is to modify the law,” she said. 

Papan and the city’s legal counsel butted heads over whether Millbrae had a path to independently fight a potential legal battle over the district elections issue, referencing a recent California Supreme Court ruling in a case alleging Santa Monica’s at-large voting system dilutes the rights of Latino voters left the lawsuit unresolved.

Papan pointed to an element of that ruling which found “every jurisdiction is unique and should be judged as such” and said because the Voting Rights Act did not specifically address a reversion from district elections back to at-large elections, Millbrae could potentially be a “test case.” 

“The [Voting Rights Act] does not address, has not addressed, does not include, how cities go back to at-large elections. So it’s not in the law. So that would mean it’s untested. The city of Millbrae could be the test case here,” she said. “We want the residents to know it is a possibility.” 

That was not an opinion shared by Deputy City Attorney Lori Liu, who said the uncharted nature of such a council decision could be problematic for the city. 

“We do not believe it has a path forward towards reverting from district elections to at-large elections,” she said. “There is no case law that provides a path backwards, so to speak. This would be a case of first impression, which would then entail significant legal risk and unknown attorney’s fees.” 

The City Council did not move forward with any definitive action on a reversion to at-large elections, but did approve further legal research into the potential ramifications of putting a referendum of the issue on the ballot or voters collecting enough signatures to put one on ballots themselves. 

Districting has only harmed Millbrae, Papan emphasized. 

“We realize the district elections in Millbrae have been nothing but divisive,” she said. “They have shown everything as to why the voter’s rights act does not work in a small city.”

Staff will bring back a draft letter of support for City Council approval at its next meeting. 

holly@smdailyjournal.com

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