Organizations

At-Large Election Models#

There's more than one way that cities have their council members and mayor defined. Some have five members and some have four or seven. Some have elections for mayors, attorneys, clerks and treasurers, and others appoint those positions. Some have the majority elections on presidential election years and others on the mid-terms. Even with that variety, though, we can quantify the different models. Those models, and the cities that use them, are shown below.

Model Members Term Majority Election Mayor Term Attorney Clerk Treasurer Cities
A 4 4 yrs N/A Elected
on midterm years
4 yrs Appointed Appointed Appointed Anaheim
B 4 4 yrs N/A Elected 2 yrs Appointed Appointed Appointed Garden Grove, Irvine, Westminster
C 4 4 yrs N/A Elected 2 yrs Appointed Elected
presidential years
Elected
presidential years
Orange
D 5 4 yrs Presidential years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Appointed Appointed Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Yorba Linda
E 5 4 yrs Presidential years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Elected on
midterm years
Elected on
presidential years
Placentia
F 5 4 yrs Presidential years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Elected on
presidential years
Appointed Tustin
G 5 4 yrs Midterm years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Appointed Appointed Brea, Buena Park, Cypress, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Villa Park
H 5 4 yrs Midterm years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Elected on
presidential years
Appointed Seal Beach
I 5 4 yrs Midterm years Appointed 1 yr Appointed Elected on
presidential years
Elected on
presidential years
Laguna Beach, San Clemente
J 6 4 yrs N/A Elected 2 yr Appointed Appointed Appointed Santa Ana
K 7 4 yrs Midterm years Appointed 1 yr Elected on
midterm years
Elected on
presidential years
Elected on
presidential years
Huntington Beach