This proposed initiative would amend the Charter and Municipal Code of the City of El Cerrito to allow voters to cast a vote for or against a candidate for each elected City office. It attempts to require a continuous appropriation of money from the City’s general fund to finance a potential legal defense for the initiative. The City’s general fund is the primary source of funds for City services, such as police, fire prevention, and parks. Even if approved by voters, the way of voting for City elected officials would only change if the State and County approved and implemented systems capable of counting votes against a candidate.

As required by the Charter, the City follows California law for elections. Currently, the City’s only elected officials are the City Council. The City Council includes five offices. Voters vote for two or three members of the City Council every two years.

Under California law, voters are allowed to cast one vote for each City Council office included in an election. The candidates who receive the most votes will be elected, regardless of the number of votes that each candidate receives. For example, if an El Cerrito election includes voting for three City Council offices, and there are five candidates, voters are allowed to vote for three candidates, and the three candidates who receive the most votes will be elected.

This proposed initiative would amend the Charter and Municipal Code to allow voters to cast a vote in favor of or against a candidate for each City elected office. To use the previous example, if an El Cerrito election included voting for three City Council offices, and there were five candidates, voters would be allowed to cast three total votes. Each of the three votes could either be in favor of or against a candidate. The total votes against each candidate would be deducted from the total votes in favor of each candidate to determine the net votes for each candidate. The three candidates who received the highest number of net votes would be elected. A candidate who received net negative votes could not be elected.

Contra Costa County conducts elections for El Cerrito. The County provides the elections materials, equipment, and personnel.

The initiative would not go into effect until (1) the California Secretary of State has certified a voting system that is able to tabulate votes for or against a candidate and (2) the County Registrar of Voters agrees that it can conduct an election for the City in which voters can cast votes for or against a candidate. The initiative recognizes that voting against a candidate is not currently possible. It is unknown when or if the Secretary of State or Registrar will make it possible to vote against a candidate.

The initiative attempts to require the City to retain an attorney to defend the initiative from legal challenge, even if the City Council would prefer to require initiative supporters to defend it.

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