2988 / 40.61% Yes votes ...... 4370 / 59.39% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

In this election, the voters of the City of Goleta will choose the system to be used for electing future members of the Goleta City Council. Under California law, a general law City may elect members to the City Council in one of three ways. Members may be elected "by" electoral districts, "from" electoral districts or "at large."

At the incorporation election in 2001, the voters of Goleta voted to create a new city and to have future city councils elected "by districts." In order to comply with that directive, the City retained a consultant experienced in setting up electoral districts that comply with applicable law. With input from the community at public forums and meetings, several proposed district plans were reviewed. The City Council determined that the districts set forth in proposed Ordinance 04-02E comply with all legal requirements should the election "from" districts system be affirmed by the voters.

The City Council has chosen, however, to submit the underlying question of whether the City should elect members of the City Council, "by" or "from" districts, or "at large" to the voters to confirm or alter the decision made in the incorporation election in 2001.

If approved by the voters, Ordinance No. 04-02E will establish a system of election "from" districts and establish the boundaries of those districts. It will overturn the voters' action in 2001 requiring election "by" districts. Under the "from" districts system established by Ordinance No. 04-02E, each district will have one councilmember who resides in that district but who is elected by all the voters in the City.

This means that all the voters within the city will vote for all members of the City Council. The ordinance also permits decennial boundary adjustments based on new census data without a vote of the people.

Because the terms of councilmembers are staggered, this means that Councilmembers residing in Districts 2 and 4 will stand for election in 2004. Councilmembers residing in Districts 1, 3 and 5 will stand for election in 2006. All eligible voters in the City will be entitled to vote for all seats that are up for election in every election.

Because there are three options being presented to the voters in this election, ("by districts," "from districts" and "at large,") and only one system may be implemented, the "from districts" option will only take effect if it receives the largest number of affirmative votes in excess of a majority cast in this election among the three options submitted to the voters. If none of the three options presented to the electorate receives a majority vote among those voting for that option, the current "at large" system will remain in effect.

s/ Julie Hayward Biggs
City Attorney

I recommend choosing "Election FROM Districts."

With this choice, every citizen of our city will have a chance to vote for any candidate for city council, but candidates will be spread out around our city + one from each neighborhood. While each neighborhood (district) gets its own candidate, the whole city has a vote.

Each elected council member will have to represent the WHOLE community, instead of a particular neighborhood (district).

This system is superior to "election BY districts" in which four out of five citizens cannot vote for a candidate from a district.

This system is superior to "election AT LARGE" because it prevents several of the council candidates from living in the same neighborhood.

The undersigned proponent of the argument in favor of Measure "S" at the Council District Election for the City of Goleta to be held on March 2, 2004 hereby state that such argument is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

s/ Jack Hawxhurst