By-Trustee Area Elections

In 2002, the California Legislature enacted the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), which prohibits the use of at-large elections for governing board members if such a system “impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election…” (Elections Code § 14027).

Under the CVRA, the only election system that provides an accepted “safe harbor” from potential claims is a by-trustee area election system. In this system, a school district is divided into separate trustee areas, and one governing board member who resides in each area is elected solely by the registered voters of that area, rather than by voters across the entire district. Prior to this transition, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) used an at-large election system to elect Governing Board members.

In recent years, numerous school districts and other public agencies throughout California were challenged for alleged violations of the CVRA. Based on these trends, the District determined that transitioning to a by-trustee area election system was the most appropriate and proactive course of action for future Governing Board elections.

Under state law, school districts and community college districts are permitted to transition to by-trustee area elections upon approval by their governing board and the county committee on school district organization, without requiring voter approval or a waiver from the State Board of Education. LVJUSD completed this transition through that process.

If the District had not made this change, it could have faced a legal challenge to its at-large election system. If such a challenge were successful, the District would have been required to change its election system and pay the plaintiff’s legal and expert fees, which have often totaled millions of dollars in similar cases. By transitioning to a by-trustee area system, the District reduced this risk and aligned with state law.

LVJUSD previously used an at-large election system, in which voters across the entire district were able to vote for any candidate, regardless of where the candidates lived. As part of the transition to by-trustee area elections, the District established five geographic trustee areas, with each area assigned to one seat on the Board. Voters within each trustee area now vote only for candidates who reside in that same area.

The population of each trustee area was required to be nearly equal based on total population (see Reynolds v. Sims (1964) 377 U.S. 533). That said, the law permitted local districts to have up to a 10% variance between the largest and smallest trustee areas.

The 2020 Census was the most recent complete count of the district’s population. Any updated population figures generated after that time were estimates. Therefore, in order to comply with federal and state population equality requirements, LVJUSD’s demographer used the 2020 Census data when calculating equal population across trustee areas.

Other demographic data were used to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and to help identify communities of interest within the district; however, only the 2020 Census total population counts were used to determine population equality.

Under the by-trustee area system, you now vote for a candidate for the Board of Education who lives in your designated trustee area. You will no longer vote for candidates from other areas.

While each Board member is elected by a specific trustee area, all trustees continue to serve and make decisions in the best interest of the entire district and all students.

No. This new system for electing Board members has no impact on your student’s school attendance area. Attendance areas were NOT changed as part of this process. 

The updated trustee area map has been implemented for all Board of Education elections moving forward, beginning with the November 2026 election, when voters in Trustee Areas 2, 3, and 5 will elect their representatives. The transition will be completed in November 2028, when voters in Trustee Areas 1 and 4 will elect their representatives. From that point forward, all Board members will be elected by voters within their designated trustee areas.

If 83 days before a scheduled election, no candidate has been nominated for a particular trustee area, then an election will not be held, a vacancy occurs, and the Education Code authorizes the Board to appoint a qualified individual who lives in the vacant trustee area to the Board. Such an appointment must occur at a Board meeting prior to the day fixed for the election and the appointee will be seated at our district’s annual organizational meeting as if elected in the district election. The appointee must be qualified to hold office and reside within the specific vacant trustee area.  Unlike with most typical vacancies, an individual appointed to the Board because of a failure to elect/lack of candidates will serve "as if elected," i.e., for the full four-year term. If the Board is unable to decide upon an appointee, then a special election will be called to fill the vacancy.