P.G. moves toward districts, but how many of them depends on the election’s outcome.

Pam Marino here, thinking about how the California Voting Rights Act and recent court decisions are driving more and more cities and school districts from at-large to by-district voting. Here in Monterey County, Monterey, Salinas, Marina, Greenfield and King City have already made the transition.

Now it’s Pacific Grove’s turn. Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, the P.G. City Council voted to make the switch. If all goes to plan, the small town of about 15,000 people will be divided into several districts by next spring. Just how many districts will be up to the voters, but more on that later.

The idea behind by-district voting is to cure the possible dilution of the votes by minority residents when representatives are elected at-large, where you could wind up with candidates all coming from one area of the town, or representing one bloc of voters.  

In recent years, interest groups have been demanding that cities make the switch, and taking those cities to court that refuse to do so. Cities that chose to fight lost their cases and paid millions to the groups that sued. Awards cities have had to pay range from $1 million to $22 million.

Two years ago P.G. was approached by the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC District 12, requesting the city switch. Normally receiving such a letter means a city must act within a few months, but there were mitigating factors in 2022, mainly a lawsuit in Santa Monica that was awaiting a court decision.

Santa Monica lost its case at the California Supreme Court in 2023, although one part of the case was sent back to trial court. In March of this year, the P.G. Council voted to make the first step toward switching—hiring a demographer to report on the city’s makeup—but the process was delayed again.

Last month LULAC sent another letter, formally asking P.G. to switch to districts. P.G. City Attorney Brian Pierik recommended last week that the council finally move forward and to do so quickly. By taking action by Oct. 7, they would enter a “safe harbor” period, whereby LULAC could sue, but due to a cap set by law, they could only collect $37,500 in legal fees. 

So the council acted, despite several residents who urged the council to fight districting. “I appreciate the speakers, but at the end of the day we know where we need to be going and not spending taxpayer money on legal fees,” Councilmember Debby Beck said.

The vote in favor of transition to districts was 6-0-1, with Mayor Pro Tempore Nick Smith absent. (Smith is also running for mayor.) The city now has 90 days to complete public hearings and adopt a district map, but the process clashes with the holidays and could deter public involvement, so Pierik said they would ask LULAC for a 90-day extension to March 31. 

As to how many districts P.G. needs, that will be up to the voters on Nov. 5. Currently there are six councilmembers, so the small city would have to be split six ways. However, voters are getting a second chance to decide whether to shrink the council to four members with Measure Z. (The mayor is voted at-large.) A similar measure lost by just 13 votes in 2022. 

No one in the room last Wednesday thought six districts was a good idea—they threw their support behind Measure Z. It will be interesting to see if a majority of voters finally go along with the idea.

What’s your thoughts on by-district elections? I’m always interested in hearing your thoughts.