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CC - ACTION ITEM: (1) Adoption of a Resolution Calling a General Municipal Election to be Held in the City of Culver City on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 to Elect Two Council Members to the City Council, Each for a Full Term of Four Years, and to Place on the Ballot One Proposed Charter Amendment Regarding Lowering the Voting Age to 16 for City and School District Elections; (2) Adoption of a Resolution Requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to Consolidate a General Municipal Election with the Statewide General Election, and to Render Full Election Services to the City Related to the Conduct of the Election; (3) (If Desired) Adoption of a Resolution Authorizing the City Council and/or Certain Council Members to Submit Primary Ballot Arguments Regarding the Ballot Measure; (4) (If Desired) Creation and Appointment of Members to Ad-Hoc Subcommittee(s) to Draft and/or Submit Such Ballot Argument(s); (5) Adoption of a Resolution Approving Rebuttal Arguments; (6) Instruction to the City Clerk to Post a Notice Setting the Date After Which No Arguments May be Submitted; and (7) Instruction to the City Attorney to Prepare the Impartial Analysis for the Ballot Measure.
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Meeting Date: June 22, 2026
Contact Person/Dept: Jeremy Bocchino/City Clerk’s Office
Phone Number: (310) 253-5851
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Attachments: Yes [X] No []
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (06/17/2026)
Department Approval: Lea Eriksen, Senior Assistant City Manager (06/16/2026)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) adopt a resolution calling a General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 to elect two members to the City Council for a full term of four years each, and to place on the ballot one proposed City Charter amendment to lower the voting age to 16 for City and school district elections; (2) adopt a resolution requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to consolidate a General Municipal Election with the Statewide General Election, and to render full election services to the City relating to the conduct of the General Municipal Election; (3) discuss and, if desired, adopt a resolution authorizing the City Council and/or certain Council Members to submit a primary argument regarding the ballot measure; (4) discuss and, if desired, create and appoint members to one or more ad-hoc subcommittees to draft and/or submit such ballot argument; (5) adopt a Resolution approving rebuttal arguments; (6) instruct City Clerk to post a Notice Setting the Date after which no arguments may be submitted; and (7) instruct the City Attorney to prepare the impartial analysis for the ballot measure.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Calling of the General Municipal Election
Pursuant to Section 1500 of the City Charter, General Municipal Elections for the filling of all elective offices, other than the Board of Education, shall be held in the City on the date of the statewide general election. In 2026, the date of the General Municipal Election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Elections Code Section 12101 requires Notice of Elections for candidates to be published between June 29, 2026 and July 13, 2026.
While the deadline for the notice calling an election for officers is July 13, 2026, it is not the same as the deadline for ballot measures. Additional measures may be added to the ballot through August 7, 2026, when all measure information must be submitted to Los Angeles County’s Registrar Recorder/County Clerk’s Office (LACRR/CC.)
To call the election on November 3, 2026, the City Council is requested to:
(1) Adopt a resolution calling and giving notice of a General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 for the purpose of electing two Council Members and submitting to the voters a ballot measure (Attachment 1); and
(2) Adopt a resolution requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles consolidate the election and render full election services related to the conduct of said election (Attachment 2).
(3) Review the ballot measure question, full charter language and arguments from 2022 (Attachment 3), discuss whether to keep or change the ballot argument language, and, if desired, adopt a resolution authorizing the City Council and/or certain Council Members to submit primary ballot arguments regarding the ballot measure (Attachment 4);
(4) (If desired) create and appoint Council Members to Ad-Hoc Subcommittee(s) to draft and/or submit Ballot Argument(s) regarding the ballot measures and;
(5) If Desired, adopt a resolution approving rebuttal arguments (Attachment 5);
Requesting the County to Consolidate the Election and Render Election Services
In accordance with California Elections Code Sections 10002 and 10403, the governing body of any city or district may, by resolution, request the Board of Supervisors of the county to permit the County Elections Official to consolidate the election and render election services to the city or district relating to the conduct of an election. The City Clerk recommends the City Council adopt the proposed resolution requesting the Board of Supervisors consolidate the election and render full services to the City relating to the conduct of said election.
Placement of Ballot Measure
The proposed ballot measure is a City Charter amendment to lower the voting age for City and School District elections to 16. This measure originally appeared on the November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election and failed. Staff was directed to place this same measure on the ballot for the November 2026 election at the March 27, 2026 City Council meeting. See Attachment 3 for the ballot question, full measure text and argument in favor of the measure as part of the November 2022 election.
Authorizing the City Council and/or Certain Council Members to Submit Argument(s)
Attachment 3 provides the argument used for the 2022 election. If the City Council would like to use the same argument language then it will need to be approved at the June 22, 2026 meeting. If the City Council would like to update the argument language, then it is recommended that an Ad Hoc Subcommittee be created and members appointed thereto to draft the argument in favor of the measure. The Subcommittee may either submit the argument directly or bring back at a future meeting for approval and submittal by the full Council. A third option is to authorize that the argument drafted by the subcommittee may be submitted by the full Council without review and approval at a City Council meeting. The below guidelines must be followed:
Only one ballot argument for, and one ballot argument against, each measure and rebuttals to each may be printed in the Voter Information Guide (formerly known as the Sample Ballot.). Under Elections Code section 9282(a), “[[f]or measures placed on the ballot by petition, the persons filing an initiative petition pursuant to this article may file a written argument in favor of the ordinance, and the legislative body may submit an argument against the ordinance."
In the event more than one argument for or against the measure is submitted to the City Clerk within the time prescribed, Elections Code Section 9287 states that the Elections Official must give preference and priority, in the order named, to the arguments as follows:
• The legislative body, or member(s) of the legislative body authorized by that body;
• The individual voter, or bona fide association of citizens, or combination of voters and associations, who are the bona fide sponsors or proponents of the measures;
• Bona fide associations of citizens; and
• Individual voters who are eligible to vote on the measures.
Should the City Council decide to submit an argument as a body, it is automatically placed in the Voter Information Guide. If the City Council decides to have some of its members submit an argument, those members need to be designated by the City Council for their argument(s) to receive priority. The City Council should decide whether it will submit initial and rebuttal arguments for or against the measures as a body or designate individual Council Members to submit those arguments. If individual members are to be designated, then the City Council should make those designations at this meeting.
Please note, that if more than two City Council Members will be working together to write, or intend to give comments on the same argument, then, pursuant to the Brown Act, the discussions and comments among those Council Members may only occur during a duly noticed public meeting of the City Council. Based on the calendar for the November 3, 2026 election, primary arguments are due to the City Clerk’s Office no later than the close of business (5:30 PM) on (E-81) Friday, August 14, 2026 and shall not exceed 300 words in length.
Should the City Council determine it would like to review and approve the primary arguments written by the subcommittee, staff recommends such review and approval be agendized for the August 10, 2026 City Council Meeting, in order to finalize, sign, and submit the official City Council argument prior to the August 14, 2026 deadline. The deadline for submission of rebuttal arguments to the City Clerk’s Office is no later than close of business (5:30 PM) on (E-71) Monday, August 24, 2026 and shall not exceed 250 words. If a rebuttal argument is necessary, and the City Council wishes to review and approve a rebuttal argument written by the subcommittee(s), then such review and approval would need to be conducted by the City Council prior to the deadline for rebuttals, which would require a special City Council Meeting.
Naming of Measure
California Elections Code Section 13116 states that “(a) In an election at which state, county, city, or other local measures are submitted to a vote of the voters…All county, city, or other local measures shall be designated by a letter, instead of a figure, printed on the left margin of the square containing the description of the measure, commencing with the letter “A”, and continuing in alphabetical order, one letter for each of these measures appearing on the ballot.” Each Measure is represented by one or two letters. Letter designations are on a first come first served basis and the City may not receive the preferred letters. Cities are requested to provide three choices; in case a designation is unavailable.
Unless otherwise directed by the City Council, the City Clerk intends to submit to the County three choices of “E”, “G” or “H” for the Charter Amendment.
Candidate Statement Costs
Section 13307 of the California Elections Code provides that the governing body of any local agency adopt regulations pertaining to materials prepared by any candidate for a municipal election, including costs of the candidate’s statement. The City Council rescinded Resolution 95-R104 and approved and adopted Resolution 2007-R068 on December 3, 2007, which fulfills this requirement (Attachment 6).
City Attorney Impartial Analysis
Section 9280 of the Elections Code requires the City Attorney to prepare an impartial analysis of each of the measures, showing the effect of each measure on the existing law and the operation of each measure. The impartial analysis must be submitted to the City Clerk no later than the close of business (5:30 PM) on Friday, August 14, 2026.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
The estimated total costs for the election ranges depending on the number of pages required in the ballot booklets, the number of candidates, as well as the number of ballot measures for the election. A range of $200,000 to $250,000 will allow for up to 4 ballot measures and 8 candidates total for the two positions. The Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 includes sufficient funding for these costs in Account No. 10111100.610600 (City Clerk - Election Services).
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2026-06-22 - ATT 1_Proposed Resolution Calling a General Municipal Election to be Held on November 3, 2026 for two (2) Council Members for terms of four (4) years each and one ballot measure.
2. 2026-06-22 - ATT 2_ Proposed Resolution Requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to Consolidate the Election and Render Full Services to the City of Culver City Relating to the Conduct of a General Municipal Election to be Held in the City on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
3. 2026-06-22 - ATT 3_Ballot Title, Full Measure Text and Arguments from 2022.
4. 2026-06-22 - ATT 4_ Proposed Resolution authorizing the City Council and/or certain Council Members to submit primary ballot arguments regarding the ballot measure.
5. 2026-06-22 - ATT 5_Proposed Resolution approving rebuttal arguments.
6. 2026-06-22 - ATT 6_ Resolution 2007-R068 Approving Candidate Statement Costs.
recommended action
MOTIONS
That the City Council:
1. Adopt the proposed resolution Calling and Giving Notice of a General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 for two (2) Council Members for terms of four (4) years and one ballot measure amending the City Charter to lower the voting age to 16 for City and school district elections; and,
2. Adopt the proposed Resolution Requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to Consolidate the General Municipal Election and Render Full Election Services to the City of Culver City Relating to the Conduct of a General Municipal Election to be Held in the City on Tuesday, November 3, 2026; and,
3. Approve the ballot measure language, text and/or measures as written in 2022 or create an ad hoc subcommittee and appoint two Council Members thereto to write the argument in favor of the ballot measure and determine if the same subcommittee will write arguments for any other measures, should they be approved to be placed on the November 3, 2026 Election ballot; and,
4. If desired, adopt a resolution authorizing the City Council and/or certain Council Members to submit a primary argument regarding the ballot measure; and,
5. Adopt a Resolution approving rebuttal arguments; and,
6. Instruct the City Clerk to post a Notice Setting the Date after which no arguments may be submitted; and,
7. Instruct the City Attorney to prepare the impartial analysis for the ballot measure.