Almost a whole week ago, voters went to the polls to cast their ballots. Now, we have more information about how voters felt about local measures. These are still unofficial election results.
Santa Clara’s Measure C: Defeated
Measure C was a proposed city charter change to split the City of Santa Clara into three districts with two Council Members each. Last week, the Measure didn’t look like it was fairing very well and that trend has continued. As of publication time, out of about 21,000 votes, 13,000 were against it while 8,000 were for it.
Santa Clara is currently using a court ordered six-district system after losing a California Voting Rights lawsuit (which is on appeal). The current six districts will continue through 2020 on that court order. Many say that Santa Clara has to stay on the six-district system until the City can change their charter — however, this point is still being debated amongst City leaders. Others say the City can return to their illegal at-large voting system after 2020.
Sunnyvale’s Measure B: Passed
Measure B, a proposed charter change to update the City of Sunnyvale’s City Council voting system from at-large to six districts with a directly elected mayor, was favored by voters. Once the poll closed it was pretty clear that Measure B would pass. As of publication, out of 24,000 votes, 15,000 voted “yes,” while 9,000 voted “no.”
Currently, Sunnyvale has an at-large system for electing seven Council Member seats and one Council Member is selected from among them to serve a two-year term as Mayor. Under the new system, there will be six voting districts where voters who live in that area will choose their Council Member and everyone in the City will vote for Mayor.
Measure B also increases total term limits. Council Members could serve up to three consecutive four-year terms, with no more than two terms as Council Member or Mayor. There would also be a new 30-day Sunnyvale residency requirement on City Council and Mayor candidates.
The new six districts would be used in November 2020. All voters will vote for Mayor in November 2020. Even districts will select their Council representative in 2020 and Odd districts in 2022. View the district map on the Sunnyvale’s website.
California State Assembly, District 25
Bob Brunton is still the leader in the race for the new face of State Assembly District 25. As of publication, Brunton has about 22 percent of the vote in Santa Clara County while Alex Lee is currently in second place with about 16 percent and Santa Clara resident Anne Kepner has 14 percent. The top two candidates will face off in November. District 25 includes Santa Clara, San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont and Newark.
As of publication, voter turnout in Santa Clara County was almost 41 percent. View the developing results on the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters’ website.