Yorba Linda voters once favored election districts for choosing members of the city governing body

Since several north Orange County cities already have adopted – or are in the process of developing – districts for the election of City Council members, the issue is almost certain to be raised in Yorba Linda.

However, unlike many of the other communities, this city has a history regarding the creation of a district balloting procedure, and residents, in an election 38 years ago, favored choosing council members from districts by a 52.4 percent majority vote.

The issue was on the ballot in the June 1978 primary election as a local measure, and of the 7,999 Yorba Linda voters who expressed an opinion on the matter, 4,192 favored developing districts for council elections, while 3,807 were opposed.

But the vote – along with another measure seeking residents' opinions on scheduling a bond election to purchase property for a Nixon Park – was only advisory, and the affirmative tally meant nothing, as council members voted to “receive and file” the results without comment two weeks after balloting.

The prospect of a bond ballot also came to naught, but that was because voters advised against it, 4,927 to 3,216 (144 more people voted on this item than on the district matter).

The proposed park property is now occupied by Mimi's restaurant, an adjacent grass area and the southern section of the Station shopping center along Imperial Highway, just north of Yorba Linda Boulevard.

Although the idea of councilmanic districts lay fallow for more than a decade, it didn't die out entirely, and the issue received serious consideration again in 1991, when raised by John Gullixson during the first of his three turbulent terms on the council, 1990-2002.

Gullixson's proposal to draft a ballot measure that would create council districts earned three votes of support (Gullixson, Mark Schwing and Gene Wisner) and one opposed (Irwin Fried), with one absence (Hank Wedaa).

The proposal was supposed to appear on the June 1992 primary ballot and, if passed, be in place for the November election, but the issue again died, and no measure ever came up for a vote.

Gullixson's idea was different from most proposed today in that it would have created three geographic districts – west, central and east – for three members, with two to be elected on a city-wide basis.

While several of the cities and school districts currently creating electoral districts have faced the threat of legal action to ensure more diverse demographic representation on their elected governing bodies, some, such as Newport Beach and Seal Beach, created districts to assure representation from distinct geographic areas.

According to the 2010 census, Yorba Linda's non-Hispanic white population is 65.7 percent, while Asian-American, Hispanic and African-American percentages are 15.6, 14.4 and 1.3, respectively, more similar to Seal Beach than to Anaheim, Buena Park and Fullerton, cities using demographic data to create districts.