[Noozhawk’s note: Part of a series about Santa Barbara’s switch to district-based City Council elections.]
District elections for seats on the Santa Barbara City Council have not significantly increased voter turnout, a Noozhawk review of election data has found, but it is expected that the switch to even-year elections in 2024 will have a bigger impact.
Santa Barbara has held off-cycle municipal elections for decades, and is the only city in the tri-county area still doing it.
The other seven cities in Santa Barbara County consolidate with statewide elections. All had City Council seats on the Nov. 3 ballot, as so did all 17 cities in San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
Numerous studies and local experience prove off-cycle elections result in lower voter turnout, but officials — and residents — rejected previous efforts to change the system, most recently via Measure A in 2007.
Instead, Santa Barbara’s switch to even-year elections, like district elections, was forced by legislative and legal decisions.
A 2014 lawsuit alleged the city violated the California Voting Rights Act, and the at-large election system diluted Latino residents’ votes. The city settled the lawsuit and switched to district-based elections for the six City Council seats in 2015.
Instead of all city voters choosing their top three candidates for three available council seats, residents cast one vote for a candidate in the district where they live.
The mayor’s seat remains still at-large, so all city voters weigh in on that office.
A state attorney general’s opinion stated that the 2015 California Voter Participation Rights Act requires cities to switch to even-year elections when odd-year elections — also called off-cycle elections — have caused a significant decrease in voter turnout.
In response, Measure B, asking city voters to approve the switch to even-year elections, was placed on the 2018 ballot and passed overwhelmingly.
In fact, more voters cast a ballot in favor of even-year elections than have voted in the 2015 and 2017 district election council races combined.
“Santa Barbara’s odd-numbered year elections have resulted in a significant decrease in voter turnout under the act, i.e., odd-year election turnout in Santa Barbara has been at least 25 percent less than the average voter turnout in the city for the previous four statewide general elections,” City Attorney Ariel Calonne wrote in the ballot measure analysis.
Since Santa Barbara stands alone conducting odd-year elections, each one costs the city about $550,000, while even-year elections (consolidated with the county) would save at least $440,000, according to the City Attorney’s Office, which wrote the ballot measure analysis.
The argument for Measure A, written by a group including now-Mayor Cathy Murillo and former Councilman Hal Conklin, stated that even-year elections in the city averaged 29 percent higher turnout than odd-year elections.
The argument against the measure, written by a group that included former Councilman Dale Francisco, stated that council members should not get extended terms to bridge the gap to even-year elections.
“Our current system allows citizens to focus on local candidates and issues because they are the only ones on the ballot,” the argument said.
Eleven years after voters rejected even-year elections, the 2018 measure passed with 70 percent approval, and no argument against it was submitted.
A Public Policy Institute of California study found that “timing is the single most important factor in determining voter turnout in municipal elections,” after surveying city clerks throughout California.
The authors of the PPIC report also concluded that turnout in city elections tends to increase when there are propositions on the local ballot and higher competition for the council seats.
Santa Barbara has experienced such trends in recent elections, with higher turnout during voting with high-profile, citywide races or ballot measures.
Election Year Turnout Ballots Cast What Was On the Ballot 2009 49.6% 23,167 Mayor, three at-large City Council seats, local measures on building height limits, changing membership rules for city commissions 2011 41.3% 18,387 Three at-large City Council seats 2013 38.3% 17,659 Mayor, three City Council seats, local measure on land transfer near MacKenzie Park 2015 36.2% 6,771 Three City Council seats (Districts 1, 2, 3) 2017 51% 24,948 Mayor, three City Council seats (Districts 4, 5, 6), sales tax measure 2019 38.9% 6,161 Two City Council seats (Districts 1, 2). Two more seats were uncontested and candidates were appointed (Districts 3, 6) rather than put on the ballot, to save money on the election cost.
(The city’s population was estimated at 90,000 residents during this time period, and there were about 46,000 registered voters, according to City Clerk’s Office records.)
Why Turnout Matters
Increasing voter turnout is important for greater representation and influence on policymaking, especially among younger people, racial and ethnic minorities, and lower-income residents.
California’s voters and likely voters do not reflect the state’s racial diversity; they tend to have incomes above $60,000 and own their homes; they tend to be older than 45; and the majority of frequent voters have attended or graduated college, according to a 2019 Public Policy Institute of California report.
The majority of nonvoters in California are younger than 45, rent their homes, and earn less than $60,000 in annual income, the PPIC found.
“Because the number of nonvoting California adults is so large, their attitudes often drive overall public opinion on key issues,” the PPIC report stated. “Yet voters generally have very different views from nonvoters, and voters’ preferences prevail at the ballot box.
“The economic divide behind this voting gap has profound implications for the state.”
What Santa Barbara Can Expect
The City Council members elected last year will serve five-year terms to bridge the gap to the first even-year municipal election in 2024.
The city will hold one more odd-year election in 2021, and those council members and the mayor also will serve five-year terms, so their successors run in 2026.
All other Santa Barbara County cities conduct even-year elections, but only a few have already made the transition to district-based elections.
In neighboring Ventura County, the City of Ventura recently switched to even-year elections and districts, and saw an initial increase in voter turnout.
In its first even-year election with districts, in 2018, Ventura reported turnout of 61.5 percent. That was 35 percent higher than the turnout in the last at-large, odd-year race (in 2013).
Here’s the turnout breakdown during Ventura’s transition, according to records from the Ventura County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters.
Election year Turnout What Was On the Ballot 2013 26.1% Four City Council seats 2016 82.6% Three City Council seats, consolidated with presidential general election 2018 61.5% Four district-based City Council seats 2020 79.8% Three district-based City Council seats, consolidated with presidential general election
“The change to an even-year election cycle is a cost saving of approximately $138,000 to the General Fund,” then-City Clerk Cynthia Rodriguez wrote in the ballot analysis at the time.
About This Project
Noozhawk’s Report on Santa Barbara District Elections investigates the goals and outcomes of the city’s new system for choosing City Council members. Staff writers and editors collaborated on a series of stories and hope readers like you will contribute ideas and feedback for future reporting on the subject.
Santa Barbara has conducted three district elections, more than any other local municipality, and lessons learned from its implementation could help achieve the goals of the effort: improving voter and candidate participation to create a city government that better represents its residents.
This project was reported with help from the Solution Journalism Network’s Renewing Democracy grant.
Read The Series
» 5 Years Later, Santa Barbarans Reflect on Goals, Outcomes of Switch to District Elections
» District Election Advocates Say There’s Still Work to Do to Improve Neighborhood Representation
» Recruitment, Training Programs Help Increase Representation Among Women, Latino Candidates
» Goleta’s Public Engagement Commission Tasked with Increasing Participation in Local Government
» Making the Nooz: Noozhawk Digs Into Santa Barbara’s District Elections
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.