Santa Cruzans: Make Your Voice Heard In Council Boundary Discussion

SANTA CRUZ, CA — The Santa Cruz City Council is slated to hold a public hearing next week to discuss new council district boundaries.

Elections for Santa Cruz's seven council seats have historically been at-large elections, meaning residents anywhere can vote for whichever candidates they please. The city is considering transition to a district-based system, under which residents in designated districts vote for candidates to represent their districts.

A hearing on the matter will take place Tuesday and will be the first of four public meetings on the subject. The next is slated for Sept. 18, according to the city.

Drafts of boundaries will be drawn after the meetings. Possible districts will come up for consideration at meetings in January and February, with specific dates to be determined later.

The council will determine the fate of district-based elections and the proposed districts in March 2022, the city said.

The decision to move toward district elections came after the nonprofit California Voting Rights Project gave the city notice in February 2022 that it believed the city was violating the California Voting Rights Act, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported. The nonprofit threatened to sue if the city refused to make the switch and said Latino voters were marginalized in the at-large system, the nonprofit said.

The City of Santa Cruz maintained that at-large elections do not violate state law but decided to consider district elections in order "to avoid the costs and uncertainties associated with litigation."

Watch the Zoom meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and share your thoughts using Zoom ID 946 8440 1344.