The Fresno County Board of Supervisors should think seriously about abiding by a judge’s decision to hold the elections of the county’s top cops on presidential election years.
A state court judge ruled correctly on Monday to invalidate the county’s Measure A, the 2024 ballot measure that positioned the Sheriff and District Attorney elections with the gubernatorial election cycle, which happens two years before or after a presidential election. The county Board of Supervisors will weigh its next step when it meets in closed session on Tuesday.
Suggestion: Save the county time and money by accepting the decision by Superior Court Judge Tyler Tharpe. Obey state law. Let Sheriff John Zanoni and District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp serve an extra two years to their four-year term and be on the 2028 ballot.
Zanoni and Smittcamp said they were elected to four-year terms but accepted the ruling. “We are prepared to serve the full six-year terms… ,” they said in a statement.
A 2022 state law (Assembly Bill 759) mandates that the sheriff and district attorney positions be synced to the presidential year. Fresno County, in 2024, promoted Measure A to keep those elections in the gubernatorial election cycle. The measure passed with 55% of the vote.
That led to state Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber to challenge the measure, claiming it was preempted by state law. The county, said Tharpe, has “the authority to set the terms of its elected officials (but) it is not authorized under the California Constitution to set the dates on which the elections of local officials will be held.”
The county had argued in court that AB 759 , the state bill that set the voting schedule, languished in a state Senate committee’s suspense file for more than a year before it moved quickly in the final weeks of the 2022 legislative session “with little to no opportunity for public review.”
Zanoni and Smittcamp said in their statement: “As a result, local governments and voters were excluded from a policy decision that directly affects the terms of their elected officials.” Perhaps the process in Sacramento wasn’t optimal, like it frequently can be here in Fresno, but that doesn’t make an act of the Legislature invalid.
The county also argued in court that as a charter county, the state constitution gave it “substantial” control over county elections. Bonta’s office said AB 759 aplies to both general law and charter counties.
Bonta, in a press statement, applauded the judge’s decision. “There is nothing more fundamental to American democracy than the right to vote and make your voice heard. With Measure A, Fresno County threatened to undermine that fundamental right, intentionally seeking to move elections for sheriff and district attorney to off years when voters are far less likely to show up and cast a vote.”
Weber, in the same statement, said “our democracy works best when more citizens can participate in our elections.”
Why the timing matters
More voters tend to turn out for the presidential election. The November 2024 election saw more than 330,000 county residents, or 64.7% of registered voters, cast a ballot. The November 2022 election, when Gov. Gavin Newsom easily won his reelection, had 221,00 county voters, or 44.3% participate.
Because Democrats tend to show up to vote less often, Republicans have dominated low-turnout elections. In a county like Fresno where Democrats have a slim 37.36% to 33.16% registration advantage over Republicans, turnout can make a difference.
For example, the November 2024 general election drew 330,932 (64.72%) of registered voters, according to data from the Fresno County Elections Office. The November 2022 general election saw only 221,419 (44.29%) of voters show up at the polls.
In essence, a low voter turnout could give one party a sizable advantage for local offices, even non-partisan ones like sheriff and district attorney.
It makes sense to have the largest number of voters determine who enforces the law in California’s 10th-largest county.
The perfect solution would be for Democrats to get their voters to participate at the same level as Republicans. But the reality is that more locals vote when picking the next president. It’s a reasonable time to have other important local matters on the ballot as well.
