[KHTS] – The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved two decisions to consolidate the Santa Clarita Community College District and Saugus Union School District with the statewide general election.

Both decisions were presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday after both governing bodies had approved moving to trustee voting districts.

The approval by the Board of Supervisors now allows both districts to run their elections on the 2016 ballot with L.A. County during normal statewide elections on even years.

Dr. Barry Gribbons with the Santa Clarita Community College District, or SCCCD, and Dr. Joan Lucid, superintendent of the Saugus Union School District, or SUSD, spoke to the Board of Supervisors explaining their appeals and their current progress of moving to trustee voting districts.

The decision to move to trustee voting districts came after two similar lawsuits were filed against both districts for claims of violating the California Voting Rights Act.

The lawsuits filed claimed that there was an unequal representation of hispanic voters due to the way the districts held their elections.

Originally, the SUSD and a handful of other districts appealed the Board of Supervisors in 2013 to move to even-year elections but was declined due to concerns of ballot capacity.

Those concerns were raised again by Mayor Michael D. Antonovich in the newest decision.

“Currently the ballot can be 12 pages,” said Debbie Martin, with the L.A. County Register’s office. “(With all of the L.A County school districts), it can’t fit on 12 pages, though the new system would be unlimited.”

The new system is called InkaVote, approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2014, which is a touch screen computer system that would print a paper ballot to be tallied later. InkaVote is planned to start by 2020.

SCCCD also faced similar decisions earlier this year, when the board denied their request to consolidate if the district moved to cumulative voting.

SCCCD decided to move away from cumulative voting to trustee area districts in late September of this year.

The SCCCD’s next step will be the approving of the trustee district maps on Nov. 4 at Newhall Elementary school before being sent to the California Board of Governors for final approval, said Eric Harnish, vice president of public information of College of the Canyons.

SUSD will be approving their trustee maps on Nov. 17 after approving to move to trustee area districts earlier this year.