Poway Moves to District Elections

Like it or not, the race is on....

Here's what you need to know:

We have no choice in this matter.  Like it or not, districts are happening.  There is a brief overview of this later in this post.

The City of Poway is moving to a 4 district split with each City Council member elected by a district and the Mayor being elected at large.  The district boundaries will be drawn by a combination of the public's input (yours), some professionals whom the city has hired, and the Council.

You have until Thursday, August 9th, to submit as many draft district maps as you want.

Go to: drawpoway.org to learn how to produce your own version of the map. You can prepare a paper map or use the online tool.  The online tool is much more detailed and relevant.  Take the tutorials on the site to learn how to use it.

There will be a series of public hearings about this issue and to review the maps and the map summaries.

For those of you who want to know when drawing your district maps, the approximate home locations of the current council members are:

Dave Grosch

Maplewood St.

John Mullin
Del Poniente Rd.

Jim Cunningham
Corte Juana

Steve Vaus (Mayor)
Corte Dorotea

Barry Leonard
Country Day Rd.

Some quick answers to questions that you may have:

Is there any change to the method of electing my representative?

Yes/No.  The elected district representative will be the top vote getter within the district. ie, there is no runoff if a candidate does not get more then 50% of the vote.  That said, you will only be able to vote for one council member in your district, rather than the two council members you could vote for in the past.

What happens to the current City Council members after the districts are drawn?

Nothing until the 2018 election for Dave Grosch, John Mullin, & Steve Vaus (Mayor) and 2020 election for Jim Cunningham and Barry Leonard.  

What happens if my district council member ends their term early?

Same as before: The sitting City Council will have the options of interviewing and appointing a replacement council member (who lives within the district) or holding a special election.

How do I sign up to run for office?

Same as before: Get 20 registered voters to sign your application, pay a small fee, and run.

What is a "Protected Class"?

A minority group that, by Federal Law, cannot have their population split to dilute their voting rights.  In this case, this means "Hispanic", which make up ~16% of Poway's population.

What's Going On?

Various outside special interest groups, and parts of the State of California, wanted a means to more easily influence local politics, but were stymied by the large number of "vote at large" cities whose voting system was difficult and more expensive to influence.  These special interests would be groups that want more people to live in high density low income apartment housing, with the associated union controlled bus lanes and connecting roads.  So these groups teamed up with the trial lawyers in 2001, bought the necessary influence from various state representatives, and introduced the California Voter Rights Act. (CVRA).

This removed several components of the Federal Voting Rights Act (FVRA), which was set up to reduce actual racially based voter discrimination.  The FVRA required that in order for Voting Districts to replace At Large elections, the presence of districts would actually need to solve the claimed racial discrimination.  For instance, for a situation with 4 city council members, at least 25% of the population would need to be a "protected class" minority.  The CVRA removed this requirement.  As such, if there is any minority group, or at least a minority group that is a "protected class", then the local municipality can be sued to implement district elections.  The trial lawyers loved this law as it not only allows them to recover fees from when they sue a city, but the other various aspects of the CVRA make it next to impossible to lose.  Literally millions of dollars have been paid out by other Cities and municipalities around the State of California because of this law.

Earlier this year, the City of Poway received a letter from a lawyer in Malibu, CA that accused the Poway of voter based racial discrimination against its Latino population.  Given the massive potential downside financial losses, the City Council, with the proverbial gun to its head, decided to move to district elections.

What will this mean?

In the end, this will make Poway more susceptible to outside influence by special interest groups, due to the smaller number of voters they will need to target to sway a council member.  This type of system will divide the city population along artificial and racial lines.

In the past, when you spoke to the council, you had five pairs of ears listening to you.
Five people, each who needed your vote to stay in office.

Now you will have but two.