Santa Cruz Begins Transition to District Elections for City Council

Santa Cruz Local reports that the city of Santa Cruz has begun the process of shifting to district election for city council members—or not.  SCL reporter Jesse Kathan documented a public hearing at which the new election system remained controversial—even though the city agreed to it as part of a lawsuit settlement in May of 2020.

Councilmember Justin Cummings said switching to district elections from the current at-large format would not result in better representation for Santa Cruz’s Latino community—the subject of the lawsuit. “It’s really unclear how protected groups will be benefited by redrawing these maps, just based on the fact that for the past 10 years, we’ve had people from protected classes elected in every single election,” Cummings said.

The SCL report gives an in-depth breakdown of why this move is being considered, an example of what could be the first step toward creating a district map, and a list of upcoming steps.

Follow this link to read ‘Santa Cruz leaders wrestle with potential district elections’ on Santa Cruz Local.