On December 3, 2018, the City received a letter from Shenkman and Hughes, PC alleging that the current at-large method of election violates the CVRA.
On January 15, 2019 the City Council considered transitioning to District-based elections. At this meeting, Council unanimously adopted a resolution of intent to transition from at-large to District-based Elections pursuant to California Elections Code Section 10010(e)(2).
On March 19, 2019, the City Council held the first public hearing to receive input from the community regarding the creation of a district based election system. The consultant from National Demographics Corporation (NDC) Doug Johnson gave a presentation regarding the districting process. Council received comments from the community and discussed the importance of community engagement during this process. Council also discussed district options and criteria for creating district boundaries.
On April 2, 2019, the City Council held the second public hearing to receive input from the community regarding the creation of a district based election system. Consultant from NDC Jeff Tilton gave a presentation on the districting map process. Council received comments from the community and discussed the specifications of criteria to guide the establishment of electoral districts. After discussing the criteria guide Council adopted Resolution 12423 approving a five district electoral system to be implemented in the November 2020 election and approving the criteria to guide the establishment of City Council electoral districts.
The City of Campbell held two hands-on community-training workshops to provide information for creating district boundary maps. The first workshop was held on Saturday, April 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Campbell Community Center in room Q-80. The second workshop was held on Thursday, May 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Campbell Community Center in the Orchard City Banquet Hall.
The City of Campbell invitted interested parties to attend a map-building workshop to learn about the guidelines for building a successful voting map. The workshops explained the reason for the change to district voting, best practices for creating boundary maps, and how to use the online map-drawing tool. Residents were asked to submit suggested boundary map splitting the City into five (5) voting districts by 5:00p.m., Tuesday, May 14, 2019.
On June 4, 2019, the City Council held the third public hearing to receive public comment regarding the draft maps for the City Council voting district boundaries and the sequencing of district elections. The purpose of this meeting was to allow an opportunity for the Council and the public to consider any draft district map that had been published. Consulting demographer from NDC, Doug Johnson, gave a brief presentation on the districting process and briefly reviewed the posted draft maps. Council received public comment on the maps, and discussed maps 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 120, 121, 124. After discussion, Council narrowed the focus to maps 111, 112, and 120 with minor modifications. Council discussed the modifications for each map and directed the demographer to revised the maps accordingly. Council also directed the consultant to prepare an alternative map to allow for more flexibility.
On June 11, 2019 five focus maps were posted on the website for public review. Council then head the fourth public hearing on June 18, 2019 to to receive public comment regarding the draft maps for the City Council voting district boundaries and the sequencing of district elections. The purpose of this meeting was to allow an opportunity for the City Council and the public to consider the published maps for the City Council voting district boundaries; select one published district map as the desired City electoral districts; determine the sequencing of the district elections; and introduce an ordinance establishing a by-district election process.