Elk Grove City Council Rejects Calls For By District Elections
On Wednesday evening, the Elk Grove City Council rejected calls for “by district elections.” In this proposed system, all City Council members must live in the district where they reside and only voters from that district would get to vote for City Council members every four years.
At an Elk Grove City Council meeting on April 11, Pat Hume, Steve Detrick, Darren Suen, and Stephanie Nguyen all stated that that they support the current system of “from district elections”. In this system a City Council Member must live in the district where they reside, but the entire City of Elk Grove will vote on all candidates for City Council every four years.
When the City of Elk Grove was established in 2000 they had “at large district elections.” In this system an Elk Grove City Council member could live anywhere in Elk Grove but the entire City of Elk Grove would vote on all candidates for City Council.
Most noteworthy, Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly was the only member of the Elk Grove City Council who wanted to put it to a vote on the November ballot for Elk Grove residents to decide. Ly did not ask for a vote as the other members of the Elk Grove City Council did not support it.
The City of Elk Grove has four districts and a total of five City Council members. Four City Council members represent districts and the last City Council Member is the Mayor of Elk Grove. The Mayor of Elk Grove is elected every two years.
Consequently, Attorney Kevin Shenkman has said he intends to file a lawsuit against the City of Elk Grove. Shenkman believes the current format of “from district elections” violates the California Voting Rights Act.
