Shoreline Unified School District trustees voted last month to shift district elections to even years, a move triggered by a new state law that seeks to address low voter turnout.
Senate Bill 415 requires districts that have seen a significant decrease in turnout for district elections—25 percent less than those districts’ average turnout for the previous four statewide elections—to adjust their election cycles. If districts refuse, they could face court challenges from voters.
Signed into law in 2015, the California Voter Participation Rights Act takes effect in January 2018. It mandates that cities, school districts, community college districts or other districts organized in accordance to state law hold their elections on even years, when presidential and gubernatorial elections occur.
A resolution passed by Shoreline’s board of trustees said that the election year of all trustees will be extended one year.
Other districts in West Marin are discussing whether they will adopt the bill. March 10 is the deadline for a district with a November 2017 election to file a resolution with the Board of Supervisors to shift the date a year later.
The Bolinas Community Public Utility District and the Lagunitas School Board have the topic on their agendas today.
Shoreline voters had a 43.75 percent turnout in the 2015 school board election and a 74 percent average turnout for the last four statewide general elections. Lagunitas’s average turnout for the last four statewide general elections was 74 percent, and 19.16 percent of voters turned out for the 2015 school board election. Nicasio School saw an average turnout of 70 percent for the last four statewide general elections and a 17.16 percent turnout in 2015 school board elections.
Based on these numbers, none of these three districts qualify for abstaining from S.B. 415.
Lagunitas trustee Denise Santa Cruz-Bohman said she’s attracted to the bill’s mandate because the district wouldn’t have to sponsor its own election, saving the district money.
“I’m all for it,” she said. “I think it’ll extend my term for another year and I think that’ll happen for all of us on the board. It brings people to the polls and I’m all for as many people participating in the democratic process.”
Mary Jane Burke, the county’s superintendent of schools, said that school districts automatically share the cost with any other entities participating in the same election. She noted that since many districts are making the switch to even years, any district that keeps elections on an odd year could see rising costs.
“The issue is, if you’re all by yourself, you’re [subjected to the] pain of the whole cost of the election,” she said.
She also noted the burden S.B. 415 could pose for board members who may have to serve another year.
“From my perspective, this is asking a great deal from the current trustees of our community,” she said. “They’re being asked to be serve another year of their term, and it’s a big deal to ask them; it’s actually quite a gift if they say yes.”
Madeleine Sloane has served on the Nicasio School board since 2004, and has been expecting to retire at the end of the year. She expressed some hesitation about serving an extra year when the issue came up at the last board meeting.
“I think the intent was to cycle school board elections into occurring on the years of the general election in hopes of getting more people to participate—which I support,” she said. “Whether they accomplish that, we’ll see.”
Mr. Raines, the Shoreline superintendent, said the law may have “unintended consequences.”
“The legislation has an assumption that there’s less engagement,” he said. “If, on the November 2016 ballot, there was a school board vote, it would have come after the presidential, state and local measures votes. People may have fatigue after going down the ballot.”
Lynda Roberts, registrar of voters for the county, said she and her staff have begun to discuss what to do in case future ballots become so full that they require two ballot cards.
“The equipment can handle it,” she said of the machines that tally votes. “But there are some logistical things we have to study, [such as] training poll workers and educating people on how to turn in two cards.”