10,489 / 57.14% Yes votes ...... 7,868 / 42.86% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

The City Council by majority vote approved holding an advisory election seeking opinions from City of Modesto voters on whether or not the City should keep its current system of electing City Councilmembers.

California Elections Code Section 9603 authorizes cities to hold advisory elections for the purpose of allowing voters to voice their opinions on substantive issues and provides an opportunity for voters to indicate their approval or disapproval of a proposal to the City Council. The result of this vote is not binding on the City Council; however the City Council can use the results to ascertain whether to place before the voters a charter amendment that would propose to amend the City's election system.

This advisory measure asks whether the City of Modesto should change its system of electing City Councilmembers. It asks the voters to voice their opinion on this question by indicating either "Yes" they agree the City should change its system of electing City Councilmembers, or "No" the City should not change its system of electing City Councilmembers.

The measure also asks the voters to proceed to vote on the next measure on the ballot, Measure J, whether or not they voted "Yes" or "No."

This measure is advisory only and establishes no policy that must be followed by the City. According to Section 9603(c), advisory votes express general voter opinion but do not bind the sponsoring legislative body to act. Therefore, the advisory vote will not change existing law or bind the City Council to act.

s/Susana Alcala Wood
City Attorney

The above statement is an impartial analysis of Measure I. If you desire a copy of the measure, please call the Modesto City Clerk's Office at (209) 577-5396, and a copy will be mailed at no cost to you.

Modesto Bee

• Modesto district elections debated at forum Attorney says change gives voice to all; ex-prof says it narrows focus too much - 10/10/2007

As you know, Modesto currently elects its City Councilmembers in a pure At-Large system where candidates may live anywhere in the City and are voted on by all City voters.

The committee received much public input that the current system did not adequately meet the needs of a larger city.

In response to this public input, we studied nine major systems of electing members to the City Council. In addition, we discovered that there are many variations of these major systems. We found that each system has different advantages and disadvantages and that there is no "perfect" system.

While only five of the ten committee members are allowed under state law to sign this ballot argument, we want you to know that the committee unanimously agrees that Modesto needs a different system, and we thus urge you to vote Yes on Measure I.

In our deliberations, we identified two different systems that we believe should be considered by Modesto voters in this advisory election. These two systems are presented for your consideration in Measure J. We hope that you will take the time to attend a public forum, watch an informational forum on public access television, or read information materials about the measures sent out in utility bills and available on the internet at http://www.modestogov.com/charterreview.

We hope that you will participate in this advisory vote process to advise our City Council on whether you want a change, and if you want a change, which of the two recommended systems you believe will work best for the City of Modesto.

Please join us in voting Yes on Measure I.
s/ Sandra Lucas
Member Charter Review Committee
s/ Solange G. Altman
Member Modesto Charter Review Committee
s/ G. Thomas Wright
Member Modesto Charter Review Committee

(No arguments against Measure I were submitted)