Guest Opinion | Councilmember Jess Rivas: More Pasadenans Are Voting in Local Elections Than Ever Before and That’s a Great Success

Something troubling keeps happening that I think you should know about. People are claiming, against all the evidence, that Pasadena’s move to on-cycle elections (i.e. holding our local elections on the same dates as state and federal elections) has not improved voter participation.

I recently had to fact check a councilmember on this point in a council meeting. And last week, this very publication ran a guest opinion piece in which the author went even further, stating that the move “has not led to any significant increase in participation (that is people voting in local elections). In fact, if anything voter turnout is dampened by voter burnout in every election.”

Here is the actual data from the City Clerk’s website of votes cast for candidates in non-special mayoral and councilmember elections in Pasadena since 1999:

As you can see, for every seat, the number of votes cast for candidates since the switch to on-cycle elections has markedly increased and in no case has it decreased. This is true regardless of whether a race is non-competitive (an unopposed incumbent or a weak challenger) or competitive (an open seat or a strong challenger). There simply is no factual basis to say fewer voters participate today than in the old off-cycle schedule.

This, unsurprisingly, tracks what has happened across the state. In a February 2021 report, Common Cause found that “voter turnout in municipal elections tripled, on average, in cities across California that consolidated their elections from off-cycle dates to on-cycle dates.”

The report also nicely summed up why this is so important: 

“While federal elections draw large interest and voter turnout, local elections, including city council elections, have historically drawn much lower voter turnout. These local elections are arguably just as important as the higher-profile federal elections, determining who sits in the local halls of power and how well community interests are represented in local government. Low voter turnout in “off-cycle” local elections (not conducted with statewide election dates) leads to a non-representative electorate making policy decisions that impact California’s communities. A recent reform in California set out to address this problem by mandating that, under specific conditions, local elections move “on-cycle” to match with statewide election dates.”

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty great that more people are voting in our elections and that our electorate is more representative of the actual population of our city.  There have always been those who argue for policies that result in a smaller, less representative electorate, and they have always been on the wrong side of history in our country.

So I am grateful that we live in a city and a state that makes sure as many citizens as possible vote in our elections at all levels. We should be proud of the fact that we are working towards making Pasadena a place that truly works for everyone.

Councilmember Jess Rivas represents Pasadena’s District 5