King City readies to vote by district

To bring diversity into city leadership, King City voters will elect city officials by their newly divided districts this November. On Tuesday, the city and the Monterey County Elections Department hosted a second workshop to keep residents up to date on the changes.

While it was a small turn out, City Manager Steven Adams said he is not worried because the information is readily available.

“We’ve put out articles in the newspaper, we have the information on our website. We actually have items on our website, where people can go, type in their address and it tells them what their district is,” Adams said.

Adams also said he is already seeing positive changes among those running for the three open city council seats.

“We have five candidates. So we think that’s a good showing,” Adams said.

And the Monterey County Elections Department said these sessions are to answer voter questions and address upcoming changes.

“For example, there are some voters that normally in the past they would have the option of going to their polling place, now they are placed in a mail ballot precinct,” said outreach program manager Greta Arevalo.

The new ordinance divides King City into five districts, two of which have fewer than 250 residents, who now need to vote by mail or they can also drop of their ballot at any polling place.

There are also a few important dates for those voting by mail.

“They need to remember to sign their envelope. The envelope must have their name, residential address and signature in order to be counted,” Arevalo said.

Those ballots also need to be post marked by November 14.

Some voters are still skeptical, and also hopeful, about the new method.

“It’s kind of a wait and see for me, and see how it turns out and see if any of the goals are reached,” said Lincoln Hatch. “Hope the district thing works, so that we don’t have to play with it anymore, and if it doesn’t, the sooner we change it, the better.”

Another date to mark on the calendar is Monday, Oct 24 . It is the last day to register to vote. The Monterey County Elections Department will stay open until 8 p.m., and it will also be open to early voters.