SVMC to hold two public meetings for district elections
In an effort to increase inclusiveness and better represent the community, Sierra View Medical Center will be holding two meetings next week to seek public input on its transition away from at-large elections of its board members to a districtbased system.
The first meeting for the public will be on Monday, Nov. 27at 5:30 p.m., and the second will be on Wednesday Nov. 29 at 5:30 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the SVMC board room, 465 W. Putnam Ave.
A committee made up of community members will take public input into consideration, and will make a recommendation to the SVMC board of directors.
The SVMC board of directors will then take the committee’s recommendation under consideration, and will vote on a final zoning plan at the board meeting on Dec. 19, 2017.
The SVMC board of directors passed a resolution last year to move from at-large elections to district elections.
“The law offices of Melo and Sarsfield attended a board meeting in September 2016, and highly recommended the move due to polarized voting,” said Donna Hefner, chief executive officer of SVMC.
Among other factors, the resolution specified that community input be received during the election zone drawing process in a minimum of two public hearings, and that the board select a voting district plan before May of 2018, so that the November 2018 election of two directors will be held using the by-district system.
The hospital is considering several zoning plans that would divide the territory of its health care district into five equally populated zones, with each zone electing its own SVMC board member in future elections to better represent diverse groups within the community.
Census information from 2010 indicates a population of 92,510 for the SVMC health care district, which encompasses Porterville and its outlying communities, and includes nearly all the rural areas of eastern Tulare County. They will also take into consideration demographic factors such as citizen voting age population for a number of
racial and ethnic categories.
Both SVMC and the Porterville City Council are currently making the transition from at-large to district elections. They join a growing number of local government entities around California that are making similar changes to their election processes in response to critics of at-large elections, who claim that they dilute the votes of groups protected from discrimination in the voting process based on their race, religion, national origin or other characteristics.
These critics claim that at-large elections prevent communities from electing their true candidates of choice, and hinder meaningful participation in the political process.
More than 60 cities
and 135 school districts across California have switched to district elections since the 2002 passage of the California Voting Rights Act to avoid or settle lawsuits alleging voter discrimination.
The California Voting Rights Act of 2002 prohibits the use of any election system “that impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election.”
Jurisdictions can be sued if they elect their governing body using an at-large, from-districts, or mixed election system. If the court finds against a jurisdiction, the jurisdiction must change its election system and pay the plaintiff’s attorneys, experts, and other expenses.