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Election Information

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The Santa Clarita Community College District, which operates College of the Canyons, is governed by a five-member Board of Trustees that is elected by the community.

Elections are held bi-annually in even-number years in November and appear on the Los Angeles County general election ballot.

The district is divided into five trustee areas, with each trustee representing an area of roughly equal population. The trustee areas, current board members, and next election are summarized here:

Area   Trustee Election
1 Charles L. Lyon Nov. 3, 2026
2 Edel Alonso Nov. 5, 2024
3 Sebastian Cazares Nov. 5, 2024
4 Jerry Danielsen Nov. 5, 2024
5 Joan MacGregor Nov. 3, 2026

 


Information Sessions

The college hosted three information sessions for persons interested in running for the board to provide information about the election process and the role of trustees well in advance of the candidate filing period. Two sessions were held in-person, and one was hosted online.


Frequently Asked Questions

  • The district changed its election system after its election practices were challenged in a lawsuit under the California Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit was settled, and the terms of the settlement provided for implementing by-trustee areas and holding elections in even-number years.
  • The District hired a demographic consultant to evaluate the community’s population data and develop trustee area maps in accordance with 10 criteria:

    1. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall be established so that the trustee areas are equal in population as defined by law.
    2. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall not be gerrymandered in violation of the principles established by the United States Supreme Court in Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), and its progeny.
    3. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall be established so that the trustee areas do not result in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race or color as provided in Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act.
    4. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall observe communities of interest, including: rural or urban populations; social interests; agricultural, industrial or service industry interests; and the like, insofar as practicable.
    5. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall be compact, insofar as practicable.
    6. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall be created to contain cohesive, contiguous territory, insofar as practicable.
    7. The boundaries of the trustee areas may observe topography and geography, such as the existence of mountains, flat land, forest lands, man-made geographical features such as highways, major roadways and canals, etc., as natural divisions between districts, insofar as practicable.
    8. Unless otherwise required by law, the trustee areas shall be created using whole census blocks.
    9. The boundaries of the trustee areas may avoid the “pairing” of incumbents in the same trustee area, insofar as this does not conflict with the constitution and laws of the State of California and the United States.
    10. The boundaries of the trustee areas shall comply with such other factors which become known during the redistricting process and are formally adopted by the Board of Trustees.


    The criteria were contained in Resolution 2021/2-12, which was approved on the board’s October 13, 2021 meeting agenda.

  • Yes. The population growth of the area served by the college district grew more than 7.6 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and released by the California Department of Finance. The District hired a demographic consultant to evaluate the population data and develop adjusted trustee area maps that balanced the population in each trustee area. After holding public hearings in December 2021 and January 2022 on three proposed maps, the board adopted the map that will be used for future elections.