Governor Brown signed the California Voter Participation Rights Act (CVPRA) into law on September 1, 2015, which is designed to move local elections to statewide election dates to take advantage of high voter participation. The law prohibits conducting local regular elections on any date other than a statewide election date it if results in a “low voter turnout” election (25% less than the average voter turnout for the last four statewide General November elections within the same political subdivision).
The Pasadena City Council has discussed the matter at several meetings (please see agenda reports and minutes under the “Information and Handouts” section below), with the City Council to consider adopting a plan to comply with the CVPRA on December 11, 2017. The resolution does not address any changes to the format of future City Council elections (e.g. primary/general run-off elections vs. plurality elections), which will be considered and acted on in the coming weeks as part of future deliberations by the City Council.
