District Elections
Background
The City received a certified letter(PDF, 512KB) on March 6, 2018 (view Español(DOCX, 634KB), Tagalog(DOCX, 628KB), Simplified Chinese(DOCX, 625KB)) from the law firm of Shenkman & Hughes claiming the City was violating the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) because Council members were elected at-large rather than by districts. Dozens of local government agencies in California faced similar challenges in recent years.
On April 11, 2018, the Council adopted Resolution 52-2018 to adopt district elections, taking advantage of a legal protection, the Safe Harbor Law AB 350, that enables cities to have a say in district boundaries and avoid costly litigation. On July 11, 2018, the Council officially passed the ordinance to adopt district elections.
This protection applies only to cities that pass a resolution within 45 days of receiving a demand letter alleging a violation of the California Voting Rights Act. The resolution must indicate the city’s intent to move to district elections.
The City held six public hearings to receive public input, draw district boundaries, and adopt an ordinance to transition to district-based elections. Public input was received on the district boundaries. As part of the process, all residents had the opportunity to draw district lines via an online mapping tool or via paper mapping tools.
On June 20th, the City Council selected Map 109(PDF, 585KB) with Districts 2 and 4 to have elections in November 2020 and Districts 1, 3, and 5 to have elections in November 2022.
District Elections
On July 11, 2018, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1558-2018(PDF, 3MB) to change from at-large to by-district elections, establishing boundaries, and sequencing of elections within the districts. The Council members in office shall continue to represent the City at-large until the expiration of the full term to which they were elected and until their successor is qualified.
Election 2020
The City’s historic Council election cycle has two Councilmembers up for election in 2020 and three in 2022. That cycle will continue with two districts up for election in 2020, and three districts in 2022.
Candidates for City Council must live in, and be a registered voter in, the City Council District in which that candidate is seeking election at the time nomination papers are issued to that candidate pursuant to Government Code Section 34882 and Elections Code Section 10227.
The elected positions of City Treasurer and City Clerk will remain at-large and will be voted on in November 2022. The term of office for all City elected positions will remain four-years.
| District |
Term |
Election Year |
| District 1 |
4-year term |
November 2022 |
| District 2 |
4-year term |
November 2020 |
| District 3 |
4-year term |
November 2022 |
| District 4 |
4-year term |
November 2020 |
| District 5 |
4-year term |
November 2022 |
Map of South San Francisco Districts
Locate Your Election District
Resources