By Jonathan Goetz

August 11, 2016 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon City Council voted 4-0 (with Councilman Bob McClellan absent) on Tuesday, August 9, to put district elections on the ballot.

If approved by voters in the November 8, 2016 election, districts will be finalized in 2017 and utilized from 2018 forward.

Mayor Bill Wells first directed staff to look into the issue back on July 14, 2015. He was concerned that numerous state and federal Voting Rights Act lawsuits have forced similar sized cities and jurisdictions to switch from at-large seats to district elections.

You can read questions and answers from a public forum here:  http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/22153

The question on the ballot will read:

Do you approve amending Section 201 of the City of EI Cajon Charter to require election of City Council members by geographic districts in which they reside beginning with the general municipal election to be held in 2018?

The full text is as follows: