Why does District 1 have the lowest voter turnout in Richmond?

George Ellis walked down Sixth Street, greeting neighbors he passed in a community he has called home for decades. While he and his wife hung a poster of the City Council candidate they both planned to vote for, Ellis couldn’t remember the candidate’s name. 

 “I need to get more in-depth and do more reading. I know I should,” he said, confessing his lack of knowledge about this year’s election. 

At the nearby Nevin Community Center, which also is an Election Day polling location, Anthony Redic sat at the entrance behind a desk full of flyers advertising community events. Smiling children ran past, with one stopping to give him a hug. 

“All these kids, I’ve seen them born, I know most of they parents,” he said.

Redic was born just a few blocks from the community center and has been coming for years. Like Ellis, he couldn’t recall the name of the City Council candidate whose pin he had fastened to his bicycle, but he said he probably wouldn’t vote in the election anyway. 

“I’ve never been a voter,” he said. 

Maribel Lopez works in a taco truck on 23rd Street. She won’t be voting either — not because she doesn’t want to, but because she can’t. She is not a U.S. citizen. 

All three live in Richmond City Council District 1, a voting area that includes most of the Iron Triangle and Belding Woods neighborhoods.

District 1 had the lowest voter turnout in Richmond, with just 4,700 votes cast in the last City Council election in 2020. Just over a third of the nearly 20,000 residents are registered to vote. Since 2020, the district’s rate of registration has increased incrementally — by two percentage points — to 39%. The impact of low voter engagement means decisions are made without input from a significant portion of the community, particularly those who may be struggling with day-to-day needs. 

Oscar Garcia, the Iron Triangle Neighborhood Council president, said one of the main causes of the low voter engagement in District 1 is the large number of immigrants. 

“Not all of them are U.S. citizens and thus are not eligible to vote,” he said.

According to census data, only 7,712 district residents were eligible to vote, based on citizenship and voting age requirements, in 2020. That was just over half of the district’s adult population, based on the 2020 census data by block. In the last election, 37% of the population was registered, and 65% of those voted. Comparatively, the 2020 presidential election had the highest voter turnout of any election in the 21st century, with two-thirds of adults in the U.S. taking part. 

District 1 also has some of the lowest-income earners in the city. More than a third of households earn less than $50,000 per year, and about 75% of the population is Latino.

Richmond adopted district elections in January 2020 after being threatened with a lawsuit for violating the California Voting Rights Act by continuing at-large elections. After the 2020 census, the city was required to redistrict again, although the map remained relatively unchanged.

Garcia said the Iron Triangle neighborhood is split into different districts.

“You get slivers of all these different neighborhoods, and it just makes it confusing. So I think that also disenfranchises people,” he said. “People don’t always know what district they’re in.”

Garcia said the city’s neighborhood councils recommended an alternative map during the 2022 redistricting process. Some council members opposed this map because it gave a majority to white voters in Districts 5 and 6. It also would have caused 6,000 people to miss a vote because they were in districts whose council seats were not up for election in 2020. 

In April 2022, the City Council voted 4-3 in favor of the current district map. Those who opposed, favored the neighborhood council’s recommended map.

Garcia has lived in the Iron Triangle all his life, but his home is outside the District 1 boundaries, where most of the community he leads lives. He also said that the council underserves his neighborhood.

“The loudest person seems to get the most attention in the city and that, unfortunately, puts the Iron Triangle at a disadvantage,” Garcia said.

---

---

Candidates Jamelia Brown, Mark Wassberg and incumbent Melvin Willis are running for the District 1 seat. They have spoken in a few community forums discussing public safety, clean streets, economic development and how new funds from Chevron could be used. Both Brown and Willis advocated for engaging the community more but also acknowledged the challenges of the district’s low engagement in the political process. 

Brown said she was “dumbfounded” at the low voter turnout in 2020 and is now trying to engage residents by hosting registration events. While she found success hosting events outside of District 1, residents in her own voting area were less receptive to her registration efforts. 

“They were shooing me off like, ‘That has nothing to do with me. Nothing's going to change.’ And I start hearing all of these depressive responses.” Brown said. “There was just such a great disconnect from City Hall to the homes in District 1.”

She believes restoring trust in local government is key to engaging residents.

---

When Wassberg started his campaign, he primarily went door-to-door in his own complex. He said he had to register many residents at Hacienda Heights. He adapted in order to collect signatures. He said the first question he’d ask was if they were registered.“I didn't want to say, ‘OK, you need to vote for me right now,'" he said. 'So I kind of eased my way."

He said it was stressful going door to door and the owner of his building told him not to do it anymore. Instead, he’s focusing on engaging a few Latino business owners and community leaders.

Willis, who is seeking a third term, said that while campaigning door to door, he’s encountered voters who have become disenchanted with politics or struggle to make ends meet. He recently recalled how his own financial struggles growing up in Richmond impacted his outlook on voting.

“We just had to make it and get by,” he said. “People say they're going to do X, Y and Z, and my life circumstances hasn't really changed one bit. Why would I vote for a complete stranger who may be potentially lying to me? That was 17-year-old Melvin.” 

It took Willis getting involved directly in community outreach and local politics to become personally invested in the voting process.

Willis said he has found the most success in engaging constituents through door-knocking and letting residents tell him what issues they are most concerned about.

---

District 1 City Council forum: Candidates tackle questions on how the city should spend new Chevron money, and other issues