Will Fresno voters agree to cut two years from the terms of the county’s two top cops?

Fresno County wants to challenge a recent California law that conservatives criticize as a political power grab by state Democrats.

But first, they need voters to go along with it.

Signed into law last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 759 required most of California’s 58 counties to move the elections of sheriffs and district attorneys to the presidential election cycle.

Supporters argued that voter turnout is greatest in presidential cycles, so adding key law enforcement races to those ballots would give young voters and people of color more influence.

Conservatives slammed the idea as a Democratic Party effort to tip the scales against California Republicans. The California Sheriff’s Association opposed the law.

Exceptions to AB 759 were made for charter counties with pre-existing provisions — as of Jan. 1, 2021 — requiring those offices to run on a different election cycle.

Fresno County is one of 14 charter counties in California, according to an analysis by the California Assembly’s Committee on Elections.

However, Fresno County’s charter does not explicitly address the election of the sheriff and district attorney.

To move in line with the new law, Sheriff John Zanoni and District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp are currently serving six-year terms instead of four. Both terms would revert to four years after 2028, under the new law.

Now, some in Fresno County want to fight the law they argue violated California’s Constitution by extending those terms “without legal basis or the consent of voters.”

On Tuesday, The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Supervisor Steve Brandau’s motion to put the issue on the upcoming March ballot, asking voters to change the county charter to place the sheriff and district attorney races on the gubernatorial cycle.

“For me, this is another in a long line of things that Sacramento has done to remove local control,” Brandau said before the vote Tuesday, “and I think that is happening again, by messing with us in our elections.”

If approved by voters in March, Section 15 of the Fresno County charter would return most county offices to the gubernatorial election cycle. The supervisors would maintain their current election cycles.

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If successful, Fresno County’s efforts could cost the local sheriff and district attorney the extra two years on their terms.

That’s just fine with Zanoni.

“I do not have a preference in this case,” Zanoni said Monday in a statement to reporters. “I am prepared to run for the Office of Sheriff in Fresno County in 2026 or 2028.”

Zanoni indicated he plans to stay above the issue’s politics but was critical of the temporary term-limit extensions.

“I believe it would have been more transparent for the voters had AB 759 been passed before the election so all voters would have known this fact prior to voting,” Zanoni said.

The sheriff said there are legitimate questions about extending the terms of elected officials after elections have been certified.

“Would others have decided to run if they knew prior to the election it was going to be a six-year term?” Zanoni said. “Would the voters have voted differently if they knew the person being elected would serve for six years instead of four?”

In a statement to Fresnoland on Monday afternoon, Smittcamp also took aim at the term extensions and said she supported the supervisors’ efforts to challenge the new law.

“This legislation was not passed until after the candidates filed the proper paperwork to run for office for a 4-year term,” Smittcamp said, “and the voters voted for each candidate with the understanding they would serve a 4-year term.

“It was irresponsible,” she continued, “and potentially unconstitutional, to pass this legislation extending the term for District Attorney and Sheriff, without proper notice to the voters before they cast their ballots.”

Fresno County officials also dispute the idea that the new law limits the county’s ability to change its charter after the 2021 deadline.

In a staff report for the resolution, officials argue that charter counties have the authority to dictate when their top law enforcement elections occur, regardless of the new law.

“The problem with (the new law) is that it purports to cut off the ability of charter counties that did not have a specific provision in their charters setting the date for the election of the Sheriff and DA to adopt such a charter provision at a later date,” the county staff report states.

“There is no state constitutional justification for making this distinction,” the report continues, “particularly when the Legislature exempted those charter counties that had already adopted such a conflicting provision.”

The analysis conducted by the state Assembly’s Committee on Elections also concluded it was “unclear whether the provisions of this bill can be made applicable to charter counties.”

“It could be argued,” the elections committee analysis noted, “that this bill, by prescribing the election at which county officers must be elected, conflicts with a charter county’s authority to provide for the terms of elected county officers.”

Fresno County voter turnout higher during presidential elections

The elections committee analysis said it was only “generally true” that California voter turnout is greater in presidential elections.

“It isn’t always the case, however, that participation in presidential elections exceeds turnout in surrounding gubernatorial elections,” the report notes, citing examples from 1982 and 2010.

And the idea that greater voter turnout generally benefits the Democratic Party is a fairly old — and disputed — belief nationally.

Going back a decade or so, however, Fresno County essentially fits the profile.

General election turnout in Fresno County was highest in presidential election cycles, and those voters handed victories to Democratic presidential candidates.

Fresno County went for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012, with 63.7% turnout. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in 2016, with 66.69% turnout. And Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020 when turnout reached a record-high 74.65%.

Additionally, Fresno County turnout fell during general gubernatorial elections. Even successful Democrats, like Gavin Newsom, struggled more.

Newsom easily won election in 2018 and re-election in 2022 and brushed off a midterm recall challenge along the way.

But in all three statewide victories, Newsom lost Fresno County. 

Turnout in those races reached as high as 56.4% in 2018 and as low as 44.29% in 2022.

Those same lower-turnout gubernatorial races also included the races for Fresno County sheriff and district attorney.

Zanoni said public safety remains a key issue for voters regardless of politics.

“I do believe, regardless of all the comments about why the election was moved to the presidential election year, that here in Fresno County, our voters care deeply about our community and public safety,” Zanoni said. “I have found that here in Fresno County, regardless of voter’s political affiliation, they want a safe community, criminals held accountable, and a Sheriff who stands for law and order.”

Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver contributed to this report.