Ojai Valley News | July 24, 2026 New filing seeks path to put at-large voting in Ojai on the ballot
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 3
Thank you Anthony and Carol for sponsoring the return to at-large voting initiative petition!
Ojai Valley News, Friday, July 24, 2026
by Rob Shepyer
Former Ojai City Councilmember Carol Smith and Ojai resident Anthony Duarte signed the Ojai At-Large Restoration Act and submitted it to Chief Deputy City Clerk Weston Montgomery for filing on Wednesday, July 22.
According to Montgomery: “The City Clerk’s Office received and filed the Notice of Intention, completed the ministerial processing required by the California Elections Code, and initiated the statutory timeline for preparation of the ballot title and summary. Under the California Elections Code, the City Attorney has 15 days from receipt of the filing to prepare and provide the ballot title and summary.”
The prospect of returning to at-large elections has been debated extensively by the City Council and local Democratic clubs over the past few months after the council reviewed a demographic study that suggested Ojai’s by-district election system does not offer minorities more opportunities to elect candidates of their choice than an at-large system.
Ojai operated under an at-large voting system until it faced the threat of litigation from election lawyer Kevin Shenkman, prompting the city to switch to by-district elections for the 2020 cycle.
Now, as the city weighs a return to at-large elections, Shenkman has said publicly that he would pursue litigation against the city for violating the California Voting Rights Act if it makes the switch.
Smith said she supports a return to at-large voting because of the limitations she believes the current system places on city voters.
“This coming election has four open council seats and I can only vote for one. These are people who can tax me and I am against taxation without representation,” Smith said. “It is not fair that as a city voter, I can only vote for one person out of the four. In fact, it’s ridiculous.”
An unsigned version of the filing can be found below:
Comments