Rancho Santa Margarita residents will vote for one city council member and an at-large mayor starting in 2024.
That’s following the passage of an ordinance shifting the city to a by-district voting system.
Rancho Santa Margarita City Council members voted unanimously on Oct. 11 to create four election districts after receiving a letter claiming the at-large election system disadvantages minority communities in the city.
Editors’ Note: This dispatch is part of the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service, working with student journalists to cover public policy issues across Orange County. If you would like to submit your own student media project related to Orange County civics or if you have any response to this work, contact admin@voiceofoc.org.
In June, the city received a letter from Michelle R. Jackson, an attorney representing an undisclosed resident of the city. The letter asserted the city’s at-large election system violates the California Voting Rights Act and dilutes the ability of Latino residents to elect candidates of their choice.
The letter demanded that the city voluntarily change its at-large system for electing city council members to a district-based system to avoid litigation.
How Do Election Districts Work?
In a district election system, voters only get to pick one candidate that’s running in the district they live in. Everyone also gets to vote for the mayor in that system.
In an at-large system — which the city used previously — residents get to vote for all open seats. For example, if three seats are up for election, voters in an at-large election system get to vote for three candidates.
Cities across the county and state have received similar legal threats that pushed them toward creating district elections.
Orange County cities like Anaheim, Fullerton and Mission Viejo made the switch after becoming entangled in voting rights lawsuits. Irvine also recently considered a switch to districts.
Some of the county’s smaller cities like Cypress and Brea have been fighting back against the legal threats.
[Read: More Orange County Cities Resist Calls to Switch to District Elections]
In approving Rancho Santa Margarita’s ordinance, the council members were in agreement that complying with the demand to switch to a district system was in the best interest of the city to avoid a lawsuit.
City officials first began the switch in June. They hired a demographer and 15 maps were submitted from interested citizens for council and public review.
The Rancho Santa Margarita council adopted an official map on Oct. 11 that creates four districts with a directly elected mayor. Residents will be able to vote for one council member to represent their district, and all residents from across the city will get to cast a ballot for the at-large mayor.
The adopted map was drawn by a resident and not the professional demographer.
“It’s a map submitted by a resident of your community, and that’s really the starting point, this is how a member of your community saw the neighborhoods and communities of interest in their opinion,” Justin Levitt, the city-hired demographer, told council members at the meeting.
The Art of Crafting Election Districts
Some public commenters at the Oct. 11 meeting pointed out the importance of a map that reflects the sentiments of the residents.
But Rancho Santa Margarita resident Chris McLaughlin believes the adopted map doesn’t effectively portray the city’s neighborhoods or reflect natural city barriers.
“They don’t follow any association which would make any kind of sense like school districts or water districts,” McLaughlin said in a phone interview last month. “Our master HOA has our town broken down into four districts, and they just slice those up.”
Rancho Santa Margarita resident Beth Heard said the approved map — map 113 — gives more voting opportunities to everyday members of the Rancho Santa Margarita community.
“Although I oppose Rancho Santa Margarita is being divided into voting districts, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the City Council members for choosing map 113,” Heard said at the Oct. 11 meeting. “Your decision to choose map 113 allows for each partisan voter to have at least two voting opportunities instead of eliminating residents to having only one voting opportunity.”
McLaughlin said a map like 112 better represents the city without slicing up neighborhoods and communities.
Councilmember Anne Figueroa commented on the staff’s quick response and how diligent the changing of the election system was.
“This was not on any of the project to-do lists for the city for 2023, and of course when this process was mandated and started, the city staff really had to change directions and put some things on the backburner unfortunately,” Figueroa said at the meeting.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
•••
Can you support Voice of OC with a donation?
You obviously care about local news and value good journalism here in Orange County. With your support, we can bring you more stories like these.