Novato City Council Approves Overhauling Municipal Elections

NOVATO, CA -- The Novato City Council this week approved moving to a by-district election system in response to a threatened lawsuit alleging at-large elections violate the California Voting Rights Act.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved a map dividing the city into five districts.

Like many other cities and towns in the state, Novato has denied that its at-large election process disenfranchised minority populations, but chose to adopt a by-district election process to avoid a costly lawsuit it had little chance of winning.

There will be City Council elections in November 2019 in District 1 in northwest Novato, District 3 in the northeast and Midwest, and District 5 in the southeast. Councilmembers Pat Drew, Josh Fryday and Mayor Eric Lucan are up for re-election.

Elections in Districts 2 in west and central Novato and District 4 in the southwest are set for 2022. Councilwomen Denise Athas and Pat Eklund hold those seats, respectively.

Candidates will run for five-year terms, and City Council elections will be switched to even numbered years.

The populations in the districts range between 9,873 in District 5 to 10,878 in District 1. As of 2017, Novato's total population was about 56,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Bay City News contributed to this report.