San Bruno adopts district elections

“While this solution may not be the only solution, or possibly even the best solution, it is a solution that might encourage better, broad participation and might encourage people who might not have run otherwise, to run,” Councilmember Michael Salazar said.

The council decided on the map last month, and two weeks ago chose a staggered election sequencing that effectively ousts Vice Mayor Linda Mason for at least two years. In light of that, and after a last-minute discussion of potential alternative election reform measures, Councilmember Tom Hamilton joined Mason, who has had longstanding concerns with the process, in voting against finalizing the move to district elections that has been in the works since 2020.

The city, like hundreds of others across the state, opted to make the switch to avoid potential litigation related to the California Voting Rights Act. The act requires the votes of minority residents not be “diluted,” something that can happen during at-large elections, according to the law. Switching to districts can increase equitable representation by empowering constituents with shared interests to elect their representatives of choice.

The city formed its map over the course of several months of community input and with the help of a hired demographer. Councilmembers estimated the process has cost nearly $100,000 — far less than litigation had the city been sued.

The crux of the complication regarding Mason’s ability to seek reelection is that both her and Salazar live in the same district, but are not aligned in the city’s offset elections cycle. Salazar’s term is up in 2024 and Mason’s this year, but Mason will not be able to immediately seek reelection because her district will not be up for another two years.

A potential alternative sequencing that would have avoided the issue would have instead created an issue for Salazar. If he and Mason were to run against each other and Salazar won, a vacancy would be created that would need to be filled by the council appointing a new member. Salazar could also have chosen not to run for reelection this year, sacrificing two years on the council but avoiding the possibility of a vacancy.

Mason, the only female member of the council, could choose to run in the mayoral election, which is up every two years. She did so in 2020 but lost to incumbent Rico Medina.

“The decision made by my four male councilmembers was not to allow one councilmember to run for their seat,” Mason said, who added that the irony of “unintended but real impact” was that the decision came on International Women’s Day.

But while Councilmember Marty Medina said he acknowledged “the irony of the vote on that day,” he stood by the decision as the most reasonable choice given the circumstances.

“This was a very difficult decision for us, but I believe it was necessary,” he said, adding that while the council could have aimed for a map that did not pit incumbents against each other, it would have been “absolutely contrary to what the whole point of districting is.”

Broader reform

Adding to the complication, hours before the final vote the council received a presentation on ranked-choice and approval voting, systems that offer alternatives to the city’s current elections that allow voters to choose only their favorite candidate. The council had previously expressed interest in exploring such options.

The two alternatives allow voters to rank their preferred candidate or choose multiple candidates, a method that can reduce split-vote scenarios resulting in the election of non-consensus candidates. Ranked choice voting is used in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley but is relatively uncommon throughout the rest of country. According to advocates, the system can bolster candidate diversity by removing fear that a lesser-known candidate could have a “spoiler effect.”

But, to adopt either system, voter approval would be required to move the city from general-law to charter status, not allowing the switch to be made in time for this November’s election. Additionally, while district maps could potentially be worked into either of the discussed voting models, they alone would likely not shield the city from CVRA litigation.

To allow time to better calculate the city’s trajectory, Hamilton said he preferred to “pause” the city moving forward with district elections.

“We would potentially be moving from one voting system that we have today, which is majority vote, to district elections, and then potentially … we would change it again, and that would be three consecutive elections with three different voting methods,” he said. “That’s a heck of a lot of change.”

The council has also expressed a desire to move the city from its four-person council with a separately elected mayor to a five-person council, with the mayoral role rotating annually among members. San Bruno is the only city in the county to have a separately elected mayor.

But a hiccup in the map drawing process meant only four-district arrangements were produced (a five-district map would be needed for the desired switch). The move would similarly require voter approval, and the council determined there was not enough time to implement the change before November.

City Attorney Marc Zafferano warned that retaining at-large elections for the coming race carried “an extremely high risk of the city being sued” given that the city in 2020 adopted a resolution to make the switch by this year.

“Whether it would be successful or not is hard to say, but, of course, litigation doesn't have to be successful in order to be expensive,” he said.

Santa Monica, a city that chose to litigate the matter in an effort to keep its at-large elections, has reportedly spent more than $8 million fighting an ongoing lawsuit.

Mayor Rico Medina said while he understood the desire to “wait and look at the big picture,” there were “a lot of what if’s” that were not guaranteed.

Mason said her concerns with the process were nothing new, and she did not see sufficient evidence that the city had an immediate threat of litigation. She said the move to rotational mayor and alternate voting methods should have been explored sooner.

“Had we had the staffing, had we had the support, we may have decided those in 2020 so that we knew where we were now in 2022,” she said. “The effort was made so that we did this in order.”

The city will hold its first district elections this November. The election will decide representation for District 4, where Marty Medina lives, and District 1, currently vacant. District 2, where Hamilton lives and District 3 where Mason and Salazar live will be up in 2024.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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