After hours of emotional debate Tuesday night, the Ojai City Council decided to hold off on a proposal that would move the city away from district-based elections.
The discussion centered on a new city report showing Latino voters remain heavily outnumbered by white voters—even in Ojai’s largest Latino-majority district—raising concerns about whether changing the system would weaken minority representation.
Supporters of the proposal argued district-based elections have created unintended problems including limited voter choice. Councilmember Leslie Rule cited a previous councilmember who was evicted from their district.
“This district seat went entirely uncontested. No competition, no choice for voters,” Councilmember Rule said during the meeting. “These are not theoretical problems. This is district elections not working.”
But several council members and residents opposed changing course, warning that returning to an at-large voting system could expose the city to legal challenges under the California Voting Rights Act and place Ojai at the center of a broader national debate over voting rights.
Councilmember Rachel Lang defended district elections, saying they help preserve economic diversity in local representation.
“One great thing about districts is that it does allow for some economic diversification,” Lang said. “District one has a lot of renters, [and] district four has a lot of places where there are larger properties.”
Ojai adopted district-based elections in 2018 after facing a legal threat under the California Voting Rights Act. Similar to San Luis Obispo, the City of Ojai received a complaint from attorney Kevin Shenkman and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project alleging the city’s at-large election system diluted the voting power of its Latino residents.
The council took no formal action at the Tuesday night meeting, leaving the city’s district election system in place for now.
