Cities throughout San Diego County, in July, will open their filing period for seats on their respective city councils. Potential candidates will have until the end of the second week in August to submit their paperwork.
In National City and Imperial Beach, Districts 2 and 4 will be decided on the November ballot. In Chula Vista Seats 3 and 4 are up for grabs, though the candidates in those races were decided in March.
Chula Vista voters will choose between Michael Inzunza and Leticia Munguia as District 3 representative and Cesar Fernandez and Rudy Ramirez in District 4.
Voters decide. Men and women age 18 and older who are registered to vote, choose.
Voting—choosing— who will lead and make decisions governing our lives is an underlying principle of our representative government.
It’s a notion that, hopefully, will be mulled and discussed this July 4, in between servings of barbecue, carne asada, and soft drinks and before the fireworks and drone shows.
Votes are not guarantees and occasionally the people or measures we vote for do not win approval. It can be disappointing, of course.
In some cases results are challenged and overturned or they are upheld via recounts or Supreme Court decisions, as in the 2000 presidential election. But we accept the results and move on. Most of the time.
It wasn’t until the last presidential election when we witnessed a severe and dangerous departure from the legal and social contract Americans have lived by.
After then-President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden he claimed election fraud and challenged results in court. He lost all of his court cases. We learned later there was even consideration within his administration to having the military seize ballot boxes for inspection.
Ultimately he called on his vice-president to undermine the election results (Vice President Mike Pence refused) and his supporters to protest the certification. His followers violently stormed the Capitol. But the election was ultimately certified and the votes of the American people were honored.
This July 4 spare a moment to think about how precious, and precarious, is the freedom to choose. Nothing is guaranteed.
