Neighborhood Councils have an opportunity to file Community Impact Statements on the City of LA’s Election Reform Commission recommendations which include ideas on how to engage voters and increase the turnout.

The Election Reform Commission’s final report is with the City Council’s Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee and LA’s 95 Neighborhood Council need to act now if they want to weigh in on the five recommendations for increasing voter turnout in LA’s municipal elections.

Neighborhood Councils can file a Community Impact Statement with their council’s position on the recommendations, the report, and their own suggestions for engaging voters and increasing participation at the polls.

The Commission’s #1 recommendation was to move the dates of the City’s regular primary and general municipal elections from the current schedule of March and May of odd numbered years to a new schedule of June and November of even numbered years.

The other recommendations addressed voter registration and voter files, early voting and ease of voting, outreach and civic engagement, and absentee voting.

The Committee will hold the report for approximately 90 days to give the Neighborhood Councils an opportunity to review the report and engage their communities in offering public comment before the report goes to City Council on September 15, 2014.

The City Administrative Officer and the Chief Legislative Analyst will both be delivering their reports back to the Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee by September 8, 2014.

To listen to audio of the Committee meeting where the report was presented, click here.

To view Council File 13-1364, click here.