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Without Any Competitors, Two South Coast City Officials Will Skip Elections

The Santa Barbara City Council has four seats open on the November ballot.

However, because no other candidates chose to challenge two seated councilmembers in their respective districts, those districts will not hold elections.

That decision came down after a special city hearing on Wednesday.

Oscar Gutierrez in District 3 on the city's westside, and Meagan Harmon in District 6 of downtown, had collected their papers and signatures by the August 9 deadline.

With no competition, the city charter and elections code allowed the two to be appointed, instead of going through with their names on the ballot.

"They advocated and they asked voters to sign their papers," Councilmember Eric Friedman says, "and that's exactly the process they went through to get the support of voters with in their district."

The move is also a good money move for the city, which says it will save $106,000 instead of holding elections in those two districts

Andy worked at KCLU from 2016 until 2022.
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