District elections benefit communities, term limits don’t

Many cities in San Mateo County have recently or will soon shift from at-large to district elections, including Burlingame, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Pacifica, most (but not always) in response to lawsuits (or threatened lawsuits). These legal threats are not appearing out of thin air. They are a response to the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, which enhanced the protections of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. The CVRA aims to ensure that members of cohesive communities of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups are able not only to cast votes, but that their votes matter — that their choices are not diluted by the votes of a cohesive white majority. When cities shift to district elections, they are not just acknowledging the legal threat but also the underlying claim to equal political voice that these communities deserve.

District elections increase democracy, making it more likely that individuals with less financial resources will choose to run, and making space for new voices and perspectives. District elections make it easier for local communities to have a political voice. They encourage individuals who are not independently wealthy or easily able to tap into large donations to consider elected office. By definition, this means that younger people, less wealthy people, and members of historically marginalized communities — people of color and LGBTQ people — will run and possibly win. The diversity and representation this brings to local government allows those governments to better understand and serve their diverse communities.

Whether district elections are the best option for a city is not determined by population size. It is whether historically marginalized communities have a fair shot at getting a proportional share of political power. Proportional representation in a city where 42.8% of the population is Asian American would mean two Asian American city councilmembers, not one.

Term limits, on the other hand, restrict democracy. They remove what the Founding Fathers believed was the most powerful incentive for good behavior in public office: accountability to the public.

Term limits have harmed our state government; they remove good representatives who are delivering for their constituents. When term limits are in place, challengers are incentivized to wait for the incumbent to be termed out rather than to challenge them mid-term; this makes those seats even safer for incumbents for as long as they are eligible for re-election, making them less accountable to the public and diminishing democracy. When serving their last years in office without the possibility of re-election, an elected member has far less incentive to continue to be responsive to their constituents; instead, they may have their eye on their next elective office or even as a lobbyist. When elected officials know their time in office is limited, they are encouraged to go for quick, easy wins, rather than to think about how to solve problems that require long-term solutions. When they are termed out, government loses their expertise and their institutional memory.

Some may believe that term limits increase diversity among elected officials, based on the increased diversity in the state Legislature that followed the imposition of term limits in 1996. However, academic studies have shown that diversity was in fact a result of demographic change, not a result of term limits.

I am delighted to see the new voices being brought to our local city councils, including James Coleman in South San Francisco and Lissette Espinoza-Garnica in Redwood City. Their victories are inspiring other young people to consider public office, and are a wake-up call to all incumbents. We can thank and appreciate those who lost their public offices as a result while also recognizing that this is, in fact, a small price to pay for political equality and greater inclusion of historically marginalized communities. District elections strengthen our democracy; term limits do not.

Dr. Melissa R. Michelson is the dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science at Menlo College.