The Morgan Hill chapter of the American Association of University Women is sponsoring a civic engagement event to encourage, educate and advise any Morgan Hill residents who are thinking about running for local elected office.
The event, titled “Make Your Voice Heard Part 2: Learn how to build a successful campaign with the candidate of your choice— that could be you!,” begins at 7pm Feb. 27 at the Morgan Hill Library (660 W. Main Ave).
The AAUW program “is intended to promote greater civic involvement and to help any person thinking of running for office either on the school board or city council this fall,” according to organizers.
AAUW members Elizabeth Mandel and Margaret Snively will lead the program.
This November, four seats on the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees will appear on the local ballot. Two spots on the Morgan Hill City Council along with the mayor’s seat will be up for grabs in the same election.
Both the school board and city council adopted a by-district or trustee area election format to remain compliant with the California Voting Rights Act, which goes away from traditional at-large election systems in an effort to allow for more minority representation on governing bodies.
In the new system, candidates can only run for a seat if they reside within that district zone and, in turn, residents can only vote in races for the district in which they live.
MHUSD had its first trustee area election in November 2016, while the city council will conduct its initial by-district election with this November’s election. The two council seats will use the new format, while the mayor’s perch will remain at-large.
In the Nov. 2018 election, the MHUSD seats of Donna Ruebusch (Area 1), Ron Woolf (Area 2), Gino Borgioli (Area 3) and David Gerard (Area 4) can be contested. Prospective candidates and residents can find out what trustee area they reside in by clicking the “Find Your Trustee Area” tab at mhusd.org.
The seats of Councilmembers Rich Constantine (District B) and Caitlin Jachimowicz (District D) are also set to expire in November. Mayor Steve Tate is serving his sixth consecutive two-year term as mayor, and said before the November 2016 election that he would retire after the current term.
The city’s district map can be found by clicking the City Council District Elections tab on morgan-hill.ca.gov.
