A recent ruling by the Los Angeles Superior Court went in Redondo Beach’s favor, exempting it from the California Voter Participation Rights Act and freeing the city to choose when to hold its municipal elections.
Judge Mitchell Beckloff rendered his decision in favor of the city, citing Redondo Beach’s position as a ‘charter city’. Since it was organized as a charter city, Redondo Beach has its own constitution and is permitted more local control.
The city formally challenged the California Voter Participation Rights Act, Senate Bill 415, in February 2018. The bill forces municipalities to change their election years to correspond with national contests and thereby increase voter turnout.
Some municipalities use a banner printing service to put a reminder in front of the voting public a few weeks in advance of the election.
While Mayor Bill Brand and members of City Council appeared to have no quarrel with the change, implementing the changeover to even years did present a problem. Brand, in November 2017, vetoed council’s 3-2 decision to lengthen city terms by a year to line up with the national races and an alternative measure to shorten terms was voted down by council.
A special meeting called for by Mayor Brand to propose letting voters decide the matter failed to resolve the problem because only two members attended, so the Los Angeles County mandated deadline passed without a plan being submitted.
