Why Do We Have District Elections?

The San Luis Coastal school board has seven members, and three of these seats are open this year.  I’m running for re-election in Trustee Area 3 which includes portions of Los Osos and San Luis Obispo.

Prior to 2022, board members were elected “at large” meaning that all voters in the district voted for each of the trustees.  However, there was a requirement that three of the members live in Morro Bay or Los Osos and four live in San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, or a small portion of Pismo. But this all changed in 2022 because of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).  Here’s a description of the CVRA:

“The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) of 2001 is a state law that aims to make elections fairer for minority groups in California. It was created because some communities felt that their votes were not counting as much as they should in "at-large" elections, where all voters in a city or district vote for all the seats on the council. This often meant that minority groups couldn't elect candidates who represented their interests. The CVRA makes it easier for these groups to prove that their votes are being diluted and allows them to push for "by-district" elections, where a city is divided into districts, and each district elects its own representative. This change helps ensure that minority groups have a better chance of electing someone from their community to represent them.

The CVRA builds on the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 but is more focused on local elections in California. One significant difference is that under the CVRA, plaintiffs (the people who bring a lawsuit) do not need to show that a minority group is concentrated in a specific geographic area to prove their case. They only need to demonstrate that there is racially polarized voting, meaning different racial groups tend to vote differently. If a city is found to be violating the CVRA, it may be required to switch to district-based elections to ensure fairer representation. This law has led to many cities in California changing their election systems to better reflect the diversity of their populations.”

There is a cottage industry of attorneys who use the CVRA to force any government agency where members are elected “at large” to transition to district-based elections.  These law firms will notify individual districts through a letter threating a lawsuit forcing the transition to district elections.  Simply receiving this letter triggers a payment to the firm of approximately $30,000.  A district could choose to fight the suit, but battling the allegation would cost thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and no lawsuit challenging a CVRA complaint has ever been successful.  Thus, there has been a widespread movement to district elections from groups as diverse as schools, hospital districts, water districts, and even cemetery districts.

In 2022 realizing our vulnerability to a CVRA lawsuit, San Luis Coastal changed their elections from at-large to districts.  Sure enough, shortly after doing so, the district did received a letter from a law firm accusing us of a CVRA violation.  However, because we acted on our own, we did not have to pay the $30,000, face the risk of a lawsuit, and move to district elections anyway.

For more information here’s a link to the San Luis Coastal website that provides more information on the process we used to determine the trustee areas.

https://www.slcusd.org/about/cvra-by-trustee-area-map