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Arroyo Grande planning to shift to district voting system

October 22, 2019

By CCT STAFF

The Arroyo Grande City Council is expected to sign a resolution on Tuesday evening agreeing to transition from an at-large electoral system to by-district voting by the 2022 election, a move that is intended to appease a lawyer who threatened the city with a lawsuit over the alleged suppression of minority voting rights. [Cal Coast Times]

Attorney Robert Goodman authored a letter on behalf of Maria Minicucci to the city of Arroyo Grande alleging its at-large system violates the California Voting Rights Act, and threatening litigation if the city doesn’t voluntarily transition to a district-based election system. Minicucci needs only to prove the existence of “racially polarized voting” to establish liability under the law.

The law prohibits an at-large system that impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election.

Arroyo Grande is nearly six-square miles in size, split fairly evenly by Highway 101. The four council members and the mayor live on the east side of the highway, with three representatives living within a block of each other.

The city has maintained that racially polarized voting has not occurred in Arroyo Grande. But, because of the high risk of losing in court, city staff is recommending the city comply with the demand of shifting to a by-district system.

City staff is also asking the counsel to delay the transition until 2022 so that the trustee-area boundaries may be drawn based on 2020 Census data, which will not become available until 2021.


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wasnt someone, TKG?, proposing this for SLO a few years back?


1

Don’t forget a district for non-traditional. That would be Grande.


-4

Thank you Maria Minicucci and attorney Robert Goodman for giving residents of A.G. a voice in our government Mr., Me. Goodman must be one hellava good letter writer to wrest power from the elite without the need for litigation. Such a feat is virtually unheard of. Which begs the question that the current city council knew the law was being violated and there was no defense to their power grab,


4

Good ole boys network still intact. Take care of our own instead of the people who elected us. Screw them!


5

Now it is clear why they all supported the theft of a church and placing a homeless center on the other side of the highway. It is clear, the council usually votes in favor of the east side of the highway where all the representatives live.


And does anyone know why Teresa (Trish) McClish was terminated?


10

We all the know the real reason, too many seats representing and protecting only the village and leaving the rest of the city to take the blunt. The city could made things better when the recent appointment was needed and rather than pick someone from another part of the city they picked a person from the same area and assured a vote for whatever the mayor wants.


14