Newport schedules mail-in ballot election on 3 initiatives, but will ask state Supreme Court to intervene
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After months of legal challenges, the Newport Beach City Council on Friday called for a Nov. 3 election on three citizen-led ballot measures to comply — albeit begrudgingly — with a recent court order.
Councilmembers convened a special morning meeting to schedule the election, which will be city-run with a price tag between $1 million and $1.5 million, after an appellate court denied Newport Beach’s request for a stay earlier in the week.
Since the legal fight alleging the measures hadn’t been properly noticed extended beyond the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ August deadline for a consolidated election, Newport Beach officials were left to sort out how to administer a concurrent election on their own, something the city hasn’t done in more than 40 years.
Pressed for time and short on resources, city staff recommended Friday that voters weigh in on the measures, which propose changes to term limits, how district elections are decided and transparency policies, through mail-in ballots only.
“We are being asked to move incredibly fast, skip steps, and do things that we’ve never done before,” said Councilmember Sara Weber. “A mail-in election only seems insane to me.”
Newport Beach is appealing a ruling by an Orange County Superior Court judge that directs city officials to schedule and run an election for three ballot measures in November.
Council candidates and critics attended Friday’s special meeting to tell city officials to look in the mirror after the city unsuccessfully tried to challenge the ballot measures in court, then attempted to schedule them for the November 2028 ballot.
“I can hear from your tone that many of you are unhappy about this,” said Walter Stahr, a District 3 council candidate, “but I would say to you, this is the situation that you have created.”
Orange County Superior Court Judge Julianne Bancroft ruled the council had “abused its discretion” by initially attempting to schedule the election two years from now. She ordered the elected officials to take immediate steps to call the election for November.
As the city’s appeal effort was denied, Newport Beach reached out to four consulting groups for election help, but only Jessica Blair, a former city clerk who co-founded the Stellara Group, expressed a willingness to take on the task.
In response to a flurry of questions by Councilmember Erik Weigand, Blair clarified that she would be preparing ballots that looked different from those issued by the County of Orange for the Nov. 3 statewide election in an effort to avoid voter confusion.
Newport Beach residents, in addition to voting for governor on the top of the ticket, will be deciding four council races and a ballot measure regarding the city’s housing plan on the county-issued ballot and mailing in the city ballot for the three other measures.
But as councilmembers debated how the city could run its own election during the two-hour special meeting, questions lingered if it could meet tight deadlines or if future legal challenges would invalidate the results.
Late in the meeting, Blair mentioned that she would not be able to mail ballots out to military and overseas voters by next Friday to meet a required deadline if the Registrar of Voters did not provide the city with signature verification data.
“I would absolutely not mail out ballots without knowing that we had a way to count them and verify them when they are returned,” she said.
City Atty. Aaron Harp also disclosed that he is going to ask the California Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s decision to deny the city’s request for a stay, which could halt the city-run election.
Stahr criticized the continued legal challenge as a “waste of money” during public comments.
Harp further claimed that state law prevents the city from holding a standalone election on the same day as a statewide election and wants Bancroft to ensure during a hearing scheduled for Monday that whatever course of action the city takes complies with her court order — and that the order itself isn’t illegal.
Newport Beach is also trying to enlist the county’s help in key, but limited ways, in the meantime.
Blair mentioned that in addition to signature verification data, she would like the county’s permission for the city to set up informational tables at its vote centers. Blair also stressed the need for assistance in cases where Newport Beach residents might mistakenly deposit city ballots into county drop boxes.
All candidates in the upcoming Newport Beach City Council election except for incumbent Lauren Kleiman, the current mayor, attended Thursday’s discussion at the new Witte Hall, sharing what their priorities would be on the dais.
Councilmember Robyn Grant noted that Blair’s overall input inspired confidence, indicating she felt the city could cautiously proceed with the election amid all the entanglements.
“I actually do feel comfortable moving forward … to comply, but [that] we continue to work with the judge to make sure that whatever we’re doing is satisfying the order and is satisfying all the relevant law,” Grant said.
Citing concerns over voter disenfranchisement, Councilmember Erik Weigand opposed scheduling the election in November, but he failed to gain enough support.
A narrowly divided council called the election by a 4-3 vote with Mayor Pro Tem Noah Blom, Weber and Weigand dissenting. Councilmembers also unanimously voted to file an impartial analysis and ballot arguments as required.
The trio who voted against the city-run election in November volunteered to be signatories on arguments against the measures themselves.
But uncertainty continued to hound the city-run election after the special meeting.
Registrar Bob Page sent Newport Beach City Clerk Lena Shumway a letter on Friday afternoon that he is not in favor of the O.C. Board of Supervisors approving the county election services requested by the city.
Updates
5:04 p.m. Sept. 11, 2026: Updated with O.C. Registrar of Voters’ letter to Newport Beach.
