GILROY—Gavilan Community College Trustees this week began the transition to a new election format designed to ensure the one-person one-vote principle and that minorities have a fair shot at equal representation.
Experts for the college district will host meetings to explain the change from “at-large” to “district” elections, expected to be in place next year.
They also will present 3 potential maps and gather opinions on how seven new election districts can be most fairly carved from the 2,700 square miles under Gavilan’s jurisdiction in San Benito and south Santa Clara counties.
The Hollister meeting is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at the Briggs Building, 265 Fourth Street, Hollister.
In Gilroy, the session starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, at the North Lounge of the Student Center of Gavilan Community College, 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd., Gilroy.
The kickoff meeting was held in Morgan Hill on July 29. No member of the public showed up for that meeting, according to Board of Trustees President Walt Glines.
“Gavilan College has been studying changing to district elections off and on since 2011,” Glines told the Dispatch in a recent note.
“Public agencies throughout the state, including community college districts, were being challenged in at-large election districts,” he said.
Indeed, changes have been forced on other elected boards in San Benito County and, in Morgan Hill, the school district, under pressure from an activist group, is moving quickly toward district elections.
In Gilroy, neither the city council nor school board has made any movement toward district elections; both bodies have long included elected Hispanic members.
Glines added, “In my opinion, we decided to spend money for Gavilan programs and projects rather than see an award of fees to lawyers. Also, I think district elections as described in the California Civil Rights Act are the way to go.”
The theme of saving money, versus doing what may or may not be legally required, was echoed in a statement from Gavilan’s Director of Public Information, Jan Bernstein Chargin.
Quoting from an April board agenda item, she wrote, “By transitioning to the ‘by-trustee’ area election methodology the Board can preclude the significant financial consequences associated with CVRA litigation,” the latter a reference to the California Voting Rights Act of 2001.
The agenda item also laid out the law’s requirements, quoting from it as follows, and its direct implications for the college: “…if an at-large election methodology impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election that methodology can be challenged in court, and a public entity, such as the district, can be required to change to an election methodology where trustees are elected by only the voters of the area in which they reside.”
From its founding in 1919 as San Benito County Junior College, to the inclusion in 1963 of parts of Santa Clara County and construction in 1966 of the Gilroy main campus, the college has used the at-large format to elect trustees. Early on, in San Benito County, that meant all district voters cast votes for any open seat and anyone eligible to vote could run for office.
Since the joint college district model was adopted in 1963, candidates from each main community, three from San Benito County and two each from Gilroy and Morgan Hill, have been elected by residents from throughout the district.
Under the district election format, the board would have one seat to represent each of seven districts; candidates could run only in their district of residence and voters could vote only for a representative of the district in which they reside.
Statewide and across the nation, elected bodies have in recent years come under intense pressure to make sure at-large elections did not thwart the rights of minority and underrepresented communities.
Apparently, that has not happened at Gavilan.
“There have been no formal challenges to Gavilan’s at-large elections but partly based on successful challenges that have been costly to community college districts elsewhere in the state, we decided to switch,” according to Glines.
To find out more about the plan and see draft maps, go to http://bit.ly/1DNlO3x
