At the most recent city council meeting on Jan. 13, 2020, council responded to a California Voting Rights Act demand letter from attorney Milton C. Grimes. During the hearing, council received an in-person threat from local attorney Kevin Shenkman about the dire consequences of not caving to their demands immediately. This transition is supposed to improve the chances of a member of the Latino community being elected to city council.
Council voted, 4-1, with Skylar Peak dissenting, to go through the process of beginning due diligence toward adopting “by-district” voting and then put the question to the voters in next November’s election. The city attorney’s office cautioned that we would be the first community to put it to a vote and that we may have stepped out of the “safe harbor” rule boundary, i.e. Grimes and Shenkman can go ahead and sue the city for big bucks if the council doesn’t vote to change the voting rules or the electorate rejects the change.
The first step is to hire a demographer to have two citywide hearings and come up with a proposed outline of the new voting districts. The city proposes to have the districts designed and then submit the move to “by-district” voting to a vote of the electorate in November 2020.
In the 2010 census, Malibu’s Latino population was 6.1 percent of the electorate. Grimes and Shenkman are estimating that this has increased to 8.7 percent of the electorate. I have no idea if this year’s census will confirm the shift in the electorate. My personal observation is that our neighborhoods seem very homogeneous as far as racial makeup goes. I will be surprised if the demographer finds any ethnic concentrations that can be exploited by having them vote together.
The attorneys cite the fact that none of the current council identifies as Latino as proof that we have a problem. If we elect a Latino candidate to the council in the at-large election in 2020, will Grimes and Shenkman withdraw their demand?
How soon could this shift to “by-district” elections take place? The current plan is to submit the change to the electorate in November simultaneous with an election for the seats of Jefferson Wagner and Skylar Peak, who are both termed out, and for the seat of Rick Mullen whom most pundits believe will try to get re-elected for a second four-year term. That would seem to argue for the first by-district election taking place in 2022.
How would the transition work for sitting councilpersons who were elected “at large”? Mayor Karen Farrer and Mayor Pro Tem Mikke Pierson will likely be running for reelection in 2022. Does that mean they will need to get elected by whatever districts encompass Point Dume and Malibu West, respectively? Does that mean that those who want to run in 2024 will need to be sure they have a residence in one of the other three districts? If those who are elected in 2020 in the “at-large” election happen to reside in the same district as one of those who are elected in 2022 on a “by-district” basis, will they need to make other plans for the election of 2024 because their district is already occupied by someone with a term to serve out?
Will the real estate market get another boost every two years as those with political ambitions shop for a residence in a less contested district?
I can’t wait to learn how this all works, but I do sense an opportunity for anyone who can claim a reasonable percentage of Latino heritage coupled with a desire to serve on the Malibu City Council.