Selecting preference will require marking “no” twice and “yes” once.

On November 3, residents who live in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County near the City of Santa Clarita will be asked to cast an advisory vote on their preference of three options regarding how they would like to be governed locally. Those options are: Annex in to the city of Santa Clarita, incorporate into one new city, stay exactly the same.

The vote is only advisory, and it’s meant to generate a more reliable snapshot of public opinion in the affected communities of Stevenson Ranch, Tesoro, Castaic and Westridge.

However the ballot, which is worded very specifically, can produce watered down results if not filled out in the manor expected.

Three questions will appear on the ballot, each with a yes or no response option. One will ask if the voter would prefer to be annexed into the city of Santa Clarita. The next will ask if the voter would prefer incorporating into their own city. The last will propose keeping County governance.

If voters happened to be complacent with numerous options, they could technically vote in favor of more than one. Such an occurrence could prevent the results from producing a clear picture of the situation.

This challenge has many calling for voters to select “yes” to only one option, and “no” to the other two.

While the results of the vote will not conclusively authorize any action, they may prompt Los Angeles County and/or the city of Santa Clarita to pursue action in the future.

To learn more about this “Westside Decision,” refer to the links below.

• Public Forum – Audio podcast and news story about a public forum discussing the matter.
• Annexation study results – News article
• Incorporation study results – News Article