The William S. Hart Union High School District will now hold board member elections in even years to increase voter turnout and align with a new California law.
Effective November 2018, Hart board member elections will be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to consolidate elections with statewide general elections.
Members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the Hart District’s request to change board elections from odd years to even years during its Dec. 20, 2016 meeting.
The district approved this resolution at its Sept. 21, 2016 meeting before sending the request to the Board of Supervisors.
With the election year change, the Hart district will also be compliant with the California Voter Participation Rights Act, Senate Bill 415, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2018.
SB 415 prohibits local governments from holding election dates different from statewide elections if “the voter turnout in in past local elections has resulted in a significant decrease in voter turnout.”
The election year change will also extend the board terms set to expire in 2017 and 2019 to 2018 and 2020, respectively.
For current board members, this means that the terms of Robert Hall, Robert Jensen and Joseph Messina will extend to 2018, and the terms of Linda Storli and Steven Sturgeon will extend to 2020.
This is the second election change for the district, which approved a transition to a by-trustee election system March 11, 2015.
The first by-trustee election for the district’s five trustee areas was completed in November 2015 with the election of Storli for Area 1 and Sturgeon for Area 4.
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