District Elections: From Theory to Practice

The League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara and the City of Carpinteria are co-sponsoring a Voter Education Forum on Tuesday, Aug. 2 at 6pm to discuss the move to electing candidates by district instead of at large in the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria and the county’s school districts.

The Forum, which was initiated by the City of Carpinteria, will be a 90-minute hybrid (via Zoom and in-person) panel discussion at Carpinteria City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Avenue Carpinteria, and via Zoom. It will also be livestreamed on the League’s Facebook page.

The mayors of Carpinteria, Goleta, and Santa Barbara have confirmed their participation: Wade Nomura of Carpinteria, Paula Perotte of Goleta, and Randy Rowse of Santa Barbara. Dr. Susan Salcido, the newly reelected Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools, will join them on the panel. Chris Carson, Past President of the League of Women Voters of the United States, will moderate and discuss the California Voting Rights Act.

Revae Moran, Voter Service Director of the Santa Barbara League, explains, “The purpose of this engaging Forum is to educate voters and describe the recent districting/redistricting processes that the cities and school districts have gone through, and what the impact will be on voters.”

As an important part of the discussion, the panel will address the outcomes district elections sought to achieve, such as increased participation and diversity, as well as the concerns that have arisen, such as elected officials being too narrowly focused on their own districts.

“It is so exciting to create an opportunity to reflect on policy and its impacts as a community in this Forum. All too often we track legislation but seldom have opportunities for discussion of their realities!,” said Olivia Uribe Mutal, Program Manager at the City of Carpinteria.

The Forum will be recorded by TVSB and simultaneous interpretation in Spanish will be provided. The video (in English and Spanish) will be available for later viewing on the League’s website – lwvsantabarbara.org. This is the Zoom link:  https://bit.ly/districtelectionpanel