Irvine voters in the March primary election are set to decide on a charter amendment that would expand the city council and establish city council districts.
If approved, the measure on the ballot for Irvine voters would increase the city council from five to seven members and create six districts for council elections moving forward, while the mayor remains elected by a citywide vote — similar to Anaheim.
Click here to read the full measure and view the proposed district map.
Irvine city officials have been on the path toward switching election systems since 2021, when the city received legal threats that alleged the current voting system disenfranchises minority voters.
Officials argued against it, pointing to people of color sitting on the dais.
But city council members eventually put the city on a path to district elections beginning in May 2022.
Irvine currently elects council members using an at-large election system. In these elections, residents can vote for as many candidates as open seats.
For example, if there are three open seats, then residents can vote for three different council candidates in an at-large election.
On the other hand, district elections only allow residents to vote for the candidate who’s running in the district they live in.
If approved in Irvine, the mayor’s seat will be the only seat elected by the entire city. The rest of the council will be broken up into six districts with one council member representing each district. In district elections, council members can only run for the district that they live in.
[Read: Irvine Becomes Latest Orange County City to Consider District Elections]
While representing voter rights groups, Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman has sent legal threats to cities across the state urging them to switch to district election systems.
OC cities like Anaheim, San Clemente, Fullerton and Orange have switched to district elections in recent years.
The change is listed on the primary ballot as Measure D.
“Measure D ensures that future City Council candidates will campaign among their neighbors and respond to their needs and concerns,” reads an argument in support of the measure, signed by Mayor Farrah Khan and councilmembers Larry Agran and Mike Carroll.
“District elections will also enable candidates to run door-to-door grassroots campaigns without relying on hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from developers and other special interests.”
The argument against Measure D is signed by Cathy R. Schiff, who is only identified as a “concerned citizen.”
“The City Council’s decision to create multiple districts, ostensibly to overcome the dilution of minority voting power in compliance with the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), will replace our constitutional election process with multi-district voting, introducing segregation and its pernicious consequences into our community,” reads Schiff’s argument.
[Read: Irvine To Ask Voters If They Should Switch to District Elections]
Irvine is currently the largest Orange County city in the county with a five-person city council — one council member for every 61,000 residents.
Under the proposed district map, each council member will represent a district with approximately 50,000 residents each.
The fall election is already guaranteed to bring at least one new person onto the city council since Khan will term out of office this year.
She’s currently running for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors against incumbent Supervisor Don Wagner.
Ballots for the March 5 primary have already been mailed out in California. Orange County voters can send in their ballot in one of the 122 drop box locations or through the U.S. Postal Service with no postage required.
[Read: Vote-By-Mail Opens Today for Orange County Voters]
In-person voting at some locations will open on Feb. 24.
All vote centers will open on March 2 and they will remain open until the polls close on election day, March 5. There are set to be 183 in-person vote centers across the county in every city.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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