This Measure was placed on the ballot by vote of the Inglewood City Council.
Currently, the Inglewood City Charter (“Charter”) provides that general municipal elections shall be held in April of odd-numbered years for the following offices whose terms expire in such year: City Clerk, City Treasurer, City Council Members, and Inglewood Unified School District Board Members.
Currently, the Charter provides that the regular election for Mayor shall be held in November of every other even-numbered year.
In 2015, Governor Brown signed the California Voter Participation Rights Act (“Act”) into law. The Act requires political subdivisions that have a history of low voter turnout to consolidate their non-statewide election dates with a statewide election date by no later than November 2022. In 2017, the California Attorney General issued an opinion concluding that this Act applies to charter cities and to local school districts whose elections are governed by city charters.
Cities that do not comply with the Act may be subject to lawsuits and required to pay reasonable attorney’s fees.
This measure would comply with the Act by amending the Charter to change the City’s general/regular election dates to a statewide election date, as defined by state law, commencing in 2020. The measure does not specify a particular statewide election date, currently in June or November of even-numbered years, because the California legislature may change the definition of “statewide election dates” from time to time.
This measure would permit a one-time, one year extension of the terms of office of the City Clerk, City Treasurer, City Councilmembers and School Board Members, to transition to even-numbered year elections. There is no need to extend the term of office for Mayor because it already falls in an even-numbered year.
Lastly, this measure would change the City’s runoff election date to an established election date, as defined by state law.
A “Yes” vote approves the measure.
A “No” vote rejects the measure.
