WHY I'M VOTING "YES" FOR DISTRICT ELECTIONS

On the November 2012 ballot, voters will have the opportunity to vote for district elections for Visalia city council.  By definition, in a district-based election, candidates live in the district, and voters elect one council member in the district they live in.  It is contemplated that Visalia would have five such districts.  Currently, Visalia has an at-large election system whereby candidates can live anywhere in the city and all voters vote for all council members.  While there may be some arguments in favor of the at-large system, in this article I address the reasons why I’m voting to change to district elections:

1. District elections have worked well locally.  There are various voting models to choose from.  It’s not a question of right or wrong, but instead it’s a question of what fits the community.  The Visalia Election ProcessTask Force, which was made up of local volunteers/voters, studied the issue and recommended going to district elections, based upon city size and demographics.  The district election system has been around for a long time.  The Visalia School Board, Kaweah Delta and Tulare District Hospitals, the COS Board, Tulare County Supervisors, the Tulare City Council and others are currently elected by district.

2. District elections are more economical and should improve citizen access.  The time and financial expense of running in a district election rather than city wide is considerably less.  Elected officials who have run under both systems indicate a preference for district elections because they can more easily communicate with their district constituents, rather than spending large sums of money on expensive citywide advertising.  City council members elected by district should be more responsive to the needs of their district, and if not, can easily be replaced.  However, it’s up to the voters to make sure that they elect a council member from their district who will also be in tune to the needs of the city as a whole.

3. The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) was enacted in 2001, containing a presumption in favor of district elections.  It seeks to protect members of race, color or language minority groups; the legal standard is “whether there has been racially polarized voting.”  Based upon the data and statistics provided to our Visalia Election Process Task Force, I am not persuaded that there has historically been racially polarized voting in Visalia.  Positive examples include former Mayor Jesus Gamboa who ran successfully three times, and Able Maldonado, who ran unsuccessfully for California Lieutenant Governor, but who was supported by the vast majority of Visalia’s electorate.  Some minority candidates have not been successful here, but I attribute that to factors such as lack of name recognition, lack of campaign experience or community involvement, party affiliation, and so forth.  However, the reality is that in the 160 years of Visalia’s existence, minority ethnic groups such as Hispanics, Asians and others, have been under-represented on the city council.  Anything we can do to make access to the city council more available to qualified citizens of all races is a step in the right direction.

4. Visalia and other cities have been threatened with lawsuits by law firms, unions and other special interest groups for sundry political reasons and for financial gain, if we don’t convert to district elections.  While I believe that Visalia could successfully defend such a suit, based upon the lack of evidence of racially polarized voting here, I don’t want to spend one penny of hard-earned taxpayer money, especially in this economy, on lawyers and litigation.  Under the CVRA, if a court finds racially polarized voting, a city has to pay not only its own attorney’s fees and costs, but also those of the complaining party, which will be substantial.  However, even if the city prevails, it still has to pay its own attorney’s fees and costs.  Either way, it could cost millions.  What a waste of city financial resources!  Visalia is large now and will continue to grow larger, increasing the desirability of district elections on the merits.  While Visalia has successfully defended itself many times in the past against spurious lawsuits, there simply is no reason to waste taxpayer money on litigation under these circumstances, only the lawyers would win.

Implementing district elections for Visalia city council is the right thing to do based upon our city’s size, to increase the odds of electing qualified candidates of all backgrounds, and to increase citizen input and access.  It’s time that Visalia moves forward with district elections.


Warren Gubler
Visalia City Council Member
wgubler@ci.visalia.ca.us