More than 5,000 signatures of support didn’t get the job done for a petition submitted by community groups trying to get an initiative placed on November’s ballot that would require Santa Maria City Council members to be elected by districts.
Campaign organizers only needed to collect 2,700 signatures by April 11 to get the initiative on the ballot. Although the petition more than met the signature requirements, the city of Santa Maria issued a press release that said the petition didn’t “substantially conform” to elections code requirements.
According to the press release, the petition didn’t follow the correct formatting, didn’t contain the words “Initiative Measure to be Submitted Directly to Voters” in its header, and didn’t specifically cite that its circulators were at least 18 years old.
The Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) was a lead agency on the campaign. Agency spokesperson Hazel Davalos said the city’s reasons for denying the petition are thin, adding that CAUSE is seeking a writ of mandate from a judge that would require the city to put the issue before Santa Maria’s voters.
“[It’s] common knowledge—you need to be 18 to vote,” Davalos said. “We just really feel like the city’s grasping at straws here to not accept this petition.”
Currently, Santa Maria voters elect City Council members in an “at large” election. The initiative proposes that the city be divided into four districts of equal populations. Voters in each district would elect a candidate from that district.
Davalos said the whole point of the initiative is to make elected officials have more accountability to voters within the city, so it’s ironic that the city itself is the one rejecting it.
“We feel the city is trying to interfere with the democratic process,” Davalos said.
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 1, 2014.