While City Hall today remains uncertain whether a punitive new state law that would combine school board and government elections applies to Culver City because of its charter city designation, political activist Karlo Silbiger is jubilant about the change.
“This is going to affect Culver City very, very closely,” Mr. Silbiger told fellow members of the Culver City Democratic Club at last month’s meeting. “Senate Bill 415 was passed in August by the Legislature, and Gov. Brown signed.”
The catalyst was an historical headache.
Low voter turnout for hometown elections – as opposed to seam-bursting crowds for state and federal elections – is the declared reason for the change due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
“The new law is going to completely change around the way that Culver City elections – all elections throughout the state – are conducted,” Mr. Silbiger said.
The former School Board member explained the math behind the drastic change.
“In any city where the difference between their local elections and state-national elections is more than 25 percent voter turnout,” Mr. Silbiger said, “the elections would have to be consolidated.
“This means that in Culver City, where we have a state and national election average voter turnout of about 69 percent and a local election average of between 15 and 20 percent, we will ‘way exceed the 25 percent difference.
Enthusiastic Democratic applause broke out when Mr. Silbiger said that “this means all of our elections for School Board and City Council will be consolidated in a couple years.”
Democrats, based on voting patterns, drove and love the overturning of old rules. Republicans firmly dissent.
“I should mention the vote was almost a straight party-line vote,” Mr. Silbiger said. “Nearly all Democrats in both houses of the Legislature voted for it, which is great.”
He sees one dangling detail.
“The new law leaves the School Board and City Council some flexibility as to when we will start,” Mr. Silbiger said.
He and his friends have no intention of standing on the sideline as impartial observers.
“We will push them to get started as soon as possible,” Mr. Silbiger said, “so we can triple overnight the number of people voting in local elections.”
