Although City Council Races in Full Stride, School District Elections Won’t be Held Until Next November

Although City Council races are in full swing, PUSD races won’t be decided until November.

The school district moved to plurality elections several years ago. Now the candidate with the most votes wins outright even if the top vote-getter doesn’t acquire more than 50% of the vote. 

The change in election rules occurred when the races were rescheduled to coincide with the November general election. 

Next year, PUSD seats 2, 4, and 6 will be decided. 

Those seats are currently held by Jennifer Hall Lee, Patrick Cahalan and Tina Fredericks respectively.

The nomination period for the seats will be held in July and August. 

Pasadena Unified School District Board Members decided to switch to “plurality elections” in June 2018 when voters approved Measure BB. 

The measure amended the City Charter to “change the Pasadena Unified School District’s election dates to coincide with statewide general election dates, utilizing the plurality voting format, beginning with the November 2020 general election.” 

The vote changed the election format from a majority voting format to a plurality voting format. 

Measure BB was approved by voters on June 5, 2018 with 85.07% voting yes.