Clovis residents will soon be represented on a district basis at the city council level.
Monday, the Clovis City Council approved the transition to have district voting in 2026 after being threatened by a lawsuit.
Driving the news: Clovis currently operates with at-large elections, where all voters throughout the city vote for each of the five councilmembers.
- At-large elections are allowed under the California Voting Rights Act unless they result in racially polarized voting and vote dilution. Clovis city staff does not believe that racially polarized voting exists in the city.
- But in August, Malibu Attorney Kevin Shenkman, on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, sent a letter to Clovis accusing the city of violating the California Voting Rights Act. Shenkman claimed the city’s at-large elections have prevented Latino voters from electing their choice of candidates.
The big picture: The council voted 4-1 to change to district elections beginning in 2026, since city staff feared a substantial cost to fight a lawsuit. Mayor Pro Tem Vong Mouanoutoua cast the lone vote in opposition.
- While the council pushed back against Shennkman’s claims at Monday’s meeting, councilmembers acknowledged that no local government across the state has successfully defended against such a lawsuit brought under the California Voting Rights Act.
State of play: Mouanoutoua and Mayor Lynne Ashbeck are up for reelection in November and will not be affected by the transition to districts until their next elections.
- Councilmembers Matt Basgall, Drew Bessinger and Diane Pearce will all have to deal with the transition in 2026 if they choose to run for reelection.
What we’re watching: Clovis will hold two public hearings before drawing proposed district maps.
- Following that, the city will hold two map consideration hearings to consider proposed draft maps.
- After that, the city will hold a final map adoption hearing to set the district boundaries.
Flashback: This isn’t the first time Shenkman has levied racial accusations against the Clovis Community.
- Shenkman sent a similar letter to Clovis Unified School District in June 2023, and the district changed from at-large to district representation shortly after.
What they’re saying: Despite the 4-1 vote to transition to district elections, the entire council voiced their displeasure with the move.
- Before the vote, Ashbeck said it was “possibly the most distasteful motion ever made” in her time at City Hall. She was first elected in 2001.
- “If we can’t win, which nobody has, it would be irresponsible of us to waste several million dollars on a battle we can’t win,” Councilmember Drew Bessinger said. “We have to hope that this process will work better than the process that they did to us with our Congressional district, where they cut Clovis out of the Fresno metropolitan area and connected us to Bakersfield.”
