WESTMINSTER : Drive for Election by Districts Fails

Residents who circulated petitions to create districts for City Council elections have failed to get enough signatures.

The county registrar of voters found that 684 of the 4,196 signatures collected to place the initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot were invalid or duplications, City Clerk Mary Lou Morey said.

The group, called the Non-Partisan Alliance for District Representation, began its petition drive in June. It needed at least 3,743 signatures, 10% of the city’s registered voters, to qualify for the November ballot. The group wound up 238 signatures shy of its goal.

Members of the group said they want to make City Council members more responsive to voters, increase the chances of election for ethnic minorities and reduce the cost of campaigns by having council members elected from districts.

If their efforts had been successful, the city would have been divided into five districts with about 8,000 residents in each. One person from each district would serve on the council. The initiative also provided that the mayor would be chosen by the council instead of being directly elected.

Resident Ernest Nixon, 74, who collected about 1,900 signatures, said he hopes the group will try again.

“We were real confident that we had enough signatures,” Nixon said. “This is really a good idea because I think the people would have a better voice.”

Only 20 of California’s 444 cities elect their council members by districts.