Politics

City officials posted a new website containing interactive maps, meeting and workshop schedules and information devoted to the upcoming switch to a by-district election system for electing city council members.The website, found at drawmh.org, allows residents and voters to participate in the effort to create four council districts within the city limits. The section titled “Draw a Map” allows voters to propose their own preferred district boundaries that reflect the area or areas they think should be represented by a single elected official.An “Interactive Map Viewer” features layers of data such as the boundaries of individual U.S. Census population units within the city limits, and the number of residents within each unit. Draft maps, to be created in the coming weeks with input gathered from the public and a professional demographer, will be posted to the website.The site, which can be viewed in English and Spanish, also gives voters instructions on how to draw a proposed district map—on paper or electronically—and submit it to city officials.“The primary goal when drawing council election districts is to draw lines that keep neighborhoods together. So the council wants to know: what do you consider the boundaries of your neighborhood?” reads the “Welcome” section of the website.The next chance for voters to interact in person with city officials regarding the effort to draw new council districts will be at a July 10 community workshop, from 7 to 9 p.m. at City Council meeting chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.Under the by-district election system, each district will be represented by a single council member who resides within that district. Voters within each district will elect only one council member to represent them.This is a stark change from the at-large system that has elected council members for the last 100-plus years. Under that system, all voters throughout Morgan Hill could vote on every council seat that was up for election, regardless of where in the city each candidate lived.The council voted June 7 to make the change to a by-district system, in response to a “demand letter” from an Oakland law firm denouncing the at-large system as being in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. By adopting the change, the council is taking advantage of legal protections that limit the damages and costs that can be claimed in a potential civil rights lawsuit.The by-district system will start November 2018, when two seats—currently occupied by Councilman Rich Constantine and Councilwoman Caitlin Jachimowicz—will be up for grabs. The other two seats—now held by Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr and Councilman Rene Spring—will be subject to the by-district change when they next appear on the ballot in November 2020.The mayor of Morgan Hill will continue to be elected at large under the change, according to city staff and drawmh.org. The mayor serves a two-year term.The May 2 demand letter from Oakland law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, alleges that the current at-large system results in “vote dilution” and prevents under-represented groups such as Latino voters from “influencing the results of elections.”The city council has held two public hearings—on June 21 and June 28—on the election system change since it was adopted.At the June 28 meeting, Douglas Johnson, President of the National Demographics Corporation, gave a presentation about NDC’s proposal to offer mapping and demographic services to the city during the transition to a by-district system.Public meetings and workshops on the subject will continue until Aug. 23, when the council is expected to adopt official district maps created with input from the voters and NDC.NDC has recently offered similar services to the Morgan Hill Unified School District, when its seven-member board of trustees voted to change to a by-district election system in 2015, also under threat of a lawsuit. It has also offered redistricting services for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.The company’s contract with the City of Morgan Hill cost $43,000.

Results tabulated so far in two of four races for Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees’ seats show clear preferences for board newcomer Terri Eves Knudsen and incumbent John Horner.  The other two races are too close to call with uncounted votes still...

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced Aug. 3 that he is sponsoring an “unprecedented” statewide ballot initiative that seeks to “transcend the bitter politics of gun control and save the lives of crime victims, the suicidal and children.” If approved by voters, the...

The City of Morgan Hill spends more than $200,000 per year in fees for processing credit card payments for various city services—including utilities, business licenses and recreation.  These costs came up during a discussion of new and updated fees for city services at the April...

The Bay Area Congressional delegation—Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-16) and Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17)—wrote to President Joe Biden on Jan. 19 to request that relief for Santa Clara County be included in the Presidential Major Declaration for...

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office on July 7 certified the official results of the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election.  “Voter turnout has been on par for this election,” said Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey. “Gubernatorial Primaries generally see lower voter participation...

The deadline to submit a City Council redistricting map for consideration by the elected council is 5pm Jan. 31, according to city staff. All draft maps are available for public review on the city’s redistricting webpage at http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/2182/Draft-Maps. A City Council workshop will be held at...

The nominations period will open on July 18 for candidates who want to run for local offices in the Nov. 8 election. The nominations period closes at 5pm Aug. 12, according to a press release from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office....

Although a near-record 81.5% of eligible Californians were registered to vote as of May 23 — the highest percentage heading into a gubernatorial primary election in 68 years — just 14% of them had returned their ballot as of June 6, according to a...

Election officials in Santa Clara County on May 9 began mailing ballots for the June 7 primary to the county’s one million registered voters, who will cast 2022's first ballots in local and state races and on some ballot measures. The vote-by-mail ballots can be...