An ad-hoc, grass-roots group of San Jose citizens who favored a Special Election for the two recently vacant Council positions rather than an appointment process. We are now organizing an effort to put a City Charter Amendment on the Ballot for a vote of all San Jose registered voters at the November 5, 2024 General Election.

Amend San Jose City Charter Section 410 to ensure all San Jose citizens retain the right to vote for their Council District representative, except in limited, well-defined, and clear circumstances.

• Go to the SIGN UP tab and fill in your information. We have removed all of the approximately 450 names who signed up in 2022. We are starting a new list of all who wish to be informed and, if there is interest, assist in this effort to get this Charter Amendment on the November 2024 Ballot.

• Alert everyone in your sphere of influence to this topic and recommend they sign up on the LetMeVoteSJ website to stay informed and learn about the process.

• Check back on this website for updates from time to time.

The district structure of the San Jose City Council was put in place in recognition that each district has unique priorities. To ensure all residents have a voice, representation on the City Council is chosen by the citizens of each district. By using the appointment process to fill a vacancy, Council members chosen by residents of other districts decide who will represent the affected district. For the 30+ years that the appointment option has been available, prior City Councils have always chosen a Special Election in the event of a two-year vacancy. Now that the 2022 Council has sanctioned this process, the precedent has now been set for all future Councils to engage in a similar process disenfranchising every San Jose citizen in future Council vacancies in all ten Council Districts.

At public meetings on January 24 and Jan. 26, the nine sitting Council Members voted to appoint individuals to represent District 8 and District 10. Thirty-seven individuals submitted applications by the January 2 deadline (D8 - 13; D10 - 24). In a still secret “deliberative” process, Councilmembers reduced the number to be considered at the public hearings to five in D8 and six in D10. Three rounds of voting by Councilmembers reduced the number to two finalists where neither individual received unanimous support: in D8 (Domingo Candelas) the vote was 7-2; in D10 (Arjun Batra) the vote was 6-3.