Registered voters in San Luis Obispo can brush up on a new voting method debuting in the general election by making use of multiple educational sessions this spring and summer.
SLO will hold six community meetings on the citywide single-vote system, adopted by the City Council in January.
Starting in November, all eligible voters in SLO will only cast one vote for City Council every two years. The two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will win City Council seats.
The “vote-for-one” model swaps out the current system where voters cast two votes for two City Council candidates. They will continue to cast one vote for SLO mayor every two years.
“Citywide single vote is a simple and familiar approach to voting,” Deputy City Manager Greg Hermann said. “While we didn’t ask for this change, we are confident that this is the best compromise for the community and was approved by City Council.”
The city’s first informational session is on March 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Zoom. Residents can register for free at slocity.org/Home/Components/News/News/11711.
The next events are an in-person meeting on May 12 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Ludwick Community Center, a virtual meeting on July 8 from 9:30 to 10 a.m., and an in-person meeting on Aug. 15 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at SLO High School.
Details of the final two meetings in September and October will be posted on slocity.org/singlevote when they’re finalized.
Discussions about SLO’s election format have been active since 2023 when the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project demanded the city create voting districts to boost the voting power of marginalized groups like the local Latino community.
The voter group’s attorney sued SLO in December 2024 for allegedly weakening minority voting power through its at-large voting system. The lawsuit claimed that the at-large system violated the California Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters from being diluted.
SLO launched a voter and demographic data analysis in response, concluding that splitting the city into districts would conflict with the intent of the Voting Rights Act. The study found that Latino voters aren’t concentrated in specific geographic areas in SLO. Dividing the city, in fact, could dilute their voting power.
The switch to the single-vote method is part of the city’s settlement agreement with the voter group, sidestepping costly litigation fees and attempting to preserve minority voting power in the process.
‘Our goal is to make sure everyone who wants to vote understands the change and knows how to make their vote count in the November 2026 council member election,’
—Greg Hermann, SLO deputy city manager
But even before the new system’s adoption—when people were allowed to vote for a maximum of two candidates for the City Council member race—officials noticed that many local voters only picked one person.
“We saw this trend reach its highest peak in the last council member election in 2024, when about 70 percent of voters selected just one candidate,” Hermann said. “This tells us that voting for one candidate is a familiar way of voting for most people.”
The number of voters who picked only one candidate had been increasing every City Council race since 2016 when a little more than 20 percent of voters cast ballots that way. In 2018, that number rose to almost 45 percent, followed by almost 42 percent and almost 54 percent in the 2020 and 2022 elections, respectively.
Each of the city’s informational sessions will include a presentation from staff followed by opportunities for residents to ask questions. The presentations will cover the voting method change, why the city opted for it, how to help spread the word, and how to strengthen their voting power. Questions can be submitted in advance via email to voting@slocity.org.
“We will be doing everything we can to inform voters,” Hermann said, “and our goal is to make sure everyone who wants to vote understands the change and knows how to make their vote count in the November 2026 council member election.”
Fast fact
• Kompogas SLO, the county’s dry anaerobic digestion plant, will host its spring compost giveaway on March 28 from 10 a.m. to noon at 4300 Old Santa Fe Road, SLO. The free event encourages the community, especially home gardeners, to stop by to pick up organic certified compost from the Kompogas facility. People arriving in a pickup truck or trailer must bring a tarp to cover the compost when leaving the compound. Visit Kompogas SLO’s Facebook page facebook.com/p/Kompogas-SLO-100066882732382 for more information. ∆
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Spring Arts Annual 2026.