District boundaries were redrawn at EC, which may change the composition of the board of trustees and alter the way elections will be held, according to an article in the Daily Breeze.
William Beverly, president of the board of trustees, has supported the idea of the new system believing that the “unfair” elections were caused by the old system.
Beverly said this decision will now “even out” the number of voters per trustee because voters will only vote for candidates in their trustee areas.
“It wasn’t a fair way of electing people based on current standards and election laws,” Beverly said.
He said with the new system, each trustee will have equal-sized districts opposed to the old system where districts were separated based on high school districts.
According to an article in the Daily Breeze, the new system, which takes effect in November 2013, dictates that the population of every trustee area will be about 108,000.
He added not only will the new system effect the election for a trustee by size, but it will also change the number of voters.
“The EC board of trustees wanted to vote for representatives in their own areas rather than a representative from another area,” Joshua Casper, student trustee, said.
Casper said having representatives elected in their own area would benefit voters because the representative would have the same mentality as his or her voters.
Casper added that with the representative having the same mentality as his or her voters, it might be likely that the representative will “know what is best for their area.”
According to an article in the Daily Breeze, the new map is based on a more complex formula that takes into account several factors, such as, population size, racial makeup and city boundaries.
“Not only does the new system effect the way representatives will be elected, but certain areas as well,” Casper said.
“The new system affects areas two and five right now,” Casper said.
Casper said with Maureen O’Donnell, vice president of the board of trustees, leaving her area and Ray Gen, board of trustees member, finishing his term by the next election, areas two and five will become vacant.
“New representatives will come from areas two and five,” Casper said.
According to an article in the Daily Breeze, the new configuration increases the likelihood of a Latino board member because Area 2 will shrink to include only the vast majority of Hawthorne and all of Lennox.
Casper added that while areas may be effected by the new system, it may “save money” during an election.
“It should save the district $1.1 million per election,” Casper said.
“Every dollar we do not spend on an election will be used for something else,” Beverly said.
Casper said that while most of the board approved the new system, some disagreed and were not persuaded by what the new system had to offer.
“O’Donnell wasn’t very happy with the change,” Casper said. “She had an issue with a number of things.”
Casper added that the new system may make changes for the EC district, but it will not affect other districts.
“The Compton campus will not be effected by the new system,” Beverly said. “We are a separate district.”
Beverly added even though some members of the board disagreed with the new changes, it was neccessary.
“I believe we had to change and fix the system,” Beverly said. “It is an improvement for the college as well as the community.”
