Will San Jose Give Voters The Choice To Move Mayoral Elections?

By Jana Kadah, San Jose Spotlight

February 14, 2022

San Jose voters could soon choose whether mayoral elections take place in presidential election years.

On Tuesday, the City Council will consider putting the question to voters for the June 7 primary election. If the measure makes it to the ballot and passes with a simple majority, it will shift the timing of the mayoral election to 2024—shortening the term of the next mayor to two years instead of four. The mayor elected this year year will have a chance to run for two additional terms.

Proponents say the purpose of the proposed change is to increase voter turnout, and therefore broaden representation. This is because more people vote in presidential election years compared to midterm elections, said Garrick Percival, a San Jose State political science professor and member of the Charter Review Commission that recommended moving mayoral elections last year.

“This change is the most impactful thing that you can do to try to increase participation in the mayoral elections,” Percival told San José Spotlight, noting the change could increase turnout by 150,000 to 160,000 additional voters. “It is an effort to really strengthen our democracy to have broad-based participation in our arguably most consequential local political election.”

The City Council first looked at the idea in 2019, where it failed by a slim margin. Mayor Sam Liccardo, who originally opposed changing the election timing, brought it up again in 2020. He ultimately dropped the idea and tasked the Charter Review Commission to consider it. The 23-member commission almost unanimously supported changing the timing of the mayoral election before recommending it to the City Council last year.

The council initially approved the recommendation in January with a 10-1 vote. San Jose Councilmember and mayoral candidate Dev Davis was the lone dissenter.

Davis did not respond for comment, but during the January meeting she said approving the recommendations, including a proposal to study expanding voting to non-citizens, wasn’t the fair thing to do.

Councilmember Matt Mahan, who is also running for mayor, said he sees the benefit in both keeping and changing the timing of the mayoral race.

“The presidential race takes a lot of the air out of the room, and I think it’s healthy for us to have a focus on state and local issues. That being said, I also agree with the argument that a more representative electorate is a good thing,” Mahan told San José Spotlight, noting he supports putting the measure before voters to decide.

Councilmember and mayoral candidate Raul Peralez said he supports the proposed ballot measure, and hopes city voters will too.

“It benefits our city to ensure that we have the most participation possible in voting for our mayor,” Peralez told San José Spotlight. “I think it would be great to have a full four-year term, but I’m completely onboard with this being an acceptable consequence of moving the mayoral race.”

Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, another leading mayoral candidate, did not respond to a request for comment.

Percival and another commissioner, Huy Tran, said the commission’s data did not support arguments that changing the election timing would lower voter turnout for other local races.

“I don’t see any data to suggest that the mayor is the reason that gets people out to vote,” Tran told San José Spotlight. “There’s a lot of reasons for people who already go out to vote to continue to do so and I don’t think any of that gets lost if we shift.”

The San Jose City Council meets Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Learn how to watch and participate.

Contact Jana Kadah at jana@sanjosespotlight.com or @Jana_Kadah on Twitter.

This story will be updated.

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