San Luis Obispo adopts single at-large vote for council seats after two-year negotiation

A presenter for San Luis Obispo City announced that the City Council has approved a new voting system requiring voters to cast a single at-large vote for council members, with the two candidates receiving the most votes winning the seats. The change does not affect the mayoral election, which continues to be a separate contest.

City officials said the change responds to a 2023 letter from the Southwest voter-registration education project asserting that the existing at-large system violated the "Ley de Derechos Electorales de California." The city evaluated three responses — modest adjustments to at-large voting, shifting to district elections, or facing litigation — and after nearly two years of negotiations reached an agreement to adopt the single at-large vote system. The presenter said the council approved the measure following public hearings in November 2024 and January 2026.

The city framed the new rule as reflecting voter behavior and protecting citywide participation. According to the presenter, roughly 70% of voters in the most recent election selected only one council candidate even though they could choose two; the single-vote approach aims to make that behavior consistent across elections and to prevent groups from backing multiple candidates simultaneously. The presenter warned voters that selecting more than one candidate will invalidate their vote in that contest: “si selecciona a más de un candidato, su voto en esa elección no será válido.”

Officials said they rejected district elections in part because local demographic data do not show racial or ethnic minority populations concentrated in specific neighborhoods, and some local minority leaders had expressed concern that districts could reduce their opportunities to elect preferred candidates. The presenter also cited the financial and legal risks of litigation, noting jurisdictions that defended similar suits have sometimes spent millions and that, according to the presenter, no city has prevailed in such a lawsuit.

The council directed a post-implementation review: city staff will examine the outcomes of the 2026 and 2028 council elections and return recommendations if data suggest a different approach (for example, district elections) would better serve representation. For more information, the presenter directed listeners to slowcity.org/singlevote.

The action described was an approval of the single at-large single-vote system; the transcript does not provide a motion text, vote tally, or the names of any motion movers or seconders.