More Orange County cities, school boards shift to voting districts on November ballot

When Orange County voters cast ballots this November, more of them than ever will choose representatives from the geographic district where they live, rather than from one citywide or school district-wide pool of candidates. The candidate filing period for the Nov. 6 election opened Monday and closes Aug. 10. Council seats in all 34 cities and trustee seats on all 27 school district boards in Orange County will be on the ballot. Area cities began shifting how they elect their leaders in 2014, when Anaheim became the first Orange County city to settle a voting rights lawsuit. The city agreed to change from an at-large City Council to six districts with a representative from each. Since then, a handful of cities and school districts have made the switch, and 15 more will offer their first district elections this fall. More local governments are likely to adopt a district system in coming years because California law makes it easy to challenge the equity of atlarge elections, UC Irvine political science professor Louis DeSipio said.