Clovis switches to district-based City Council elections in 2026

Clovis will elect City Council members by district for the first time on Nov. 3, 2026, ending more than a century of at-large elections. Voters in the city’s first by-district race will choose council members in Districts 1, 4 and 5, while Districts 2 and 3 will come up in November 2028.

The candidate filing period for the 2026 municipal election opened July 13 and closes Aug. 7. Anyone running for a district seat must live inside that district boundary when nomination papers are issued.

The Clovis City Council approved the new map by a 4-1 vote after public hearings, a community map-drawing workshop, draft map hearings and an adoption meeting. The city selected map submission 502, and the district numbers were reordered without changing the actual boundaries. Residents can use the city’s district map viewer to search their address and find their district.

The move is meant to bring Clovis into compliance with the California Voting Rights Act and reduce the risk of expensive litigation. The move followed a 2024 legal threat from Malibu voting-rights attorney Kevin Shenkman, acting for the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, who argued that Clovis’s at-large system diluted Latino voting power. Latinos make up 30.5% of Clovis’s population while holding sparse representation on the council.

Reaction inside Clovis was split. Several residents objected during the public process, arguing that district-based elections could make council members focus on their own neighborhood first and the city second. Mayor Lynne Ashbeck said the city had delayed the change for 23 years after the CVRA passed.

The Clovis City Council remains a five-member, nonpartisan body, with each seat carrying a four-year term and a salary of $1,513 per month. Council meetings are held the first three Mondays of each month at 6 p.m.