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. . � were to lose that litigation, a judge would then decide on what district map to impose on the City. Adopt a Citvwide Elected Mavor and/or Change the Number of Districts The City Council may opt to retain a seven -member City Council but change the structure to have one Citywide elected Mayor and six by -district -elected City Council Members. There is some legal question regarding whether a Citywide elected Mayor violates the California Voting Rights Act, but so far the three jurisdictions challenged on that point and have prevailed (Ranch Cucamonga, Palmdale and Whittier), and a study by the City of Carlsbad found that roughly half of the cities that had changed to by - district elections had opted for a system combining a citywide elected Mayor with by - district City Council Members. This could also be an opportunity for the City to change the number of Council Members, if it so desires. California General Law cities can have five, seven or nine Council Members (or a citywide elected Mayor and four, six or eight Council Members). As a charter city, Redwood City could select one of those options or its own alternative. Such a change would need to be approved by the voters as part of the proposed March 2020 charter revision, but the direction would preferably be given now to focus the districting process on that revised number of districts. Alternative Election Svstems There are a variety of theoretical and actual alternative voting systems that the City can consider thanks to its status as a Charter City. The most commonly mentioned are "cumulative voting," "ranked choice voting," and "from district" elections. In a "From District" election system, districts are drawn and candidates to represent a given district must reside in that district, but the election continues to be held citywide. All voters on Election Day would see one election for "District 1," one election for "District 2," and so on. This system ensures each geographic region of the city is represented on the City Council, while voters continue to vote for all seven City Council Members and City Council Members remain accountable to voters in all parts of the city. The California Voting Rights Act, however, specifically classifies "From District" systems as "At Large," and thus this option does not provide a safe harbor from a lawsuit under the Act. Santa Ana uses "From District" elections and is currently facing a California Voting Rights Act challenge. "Ranked Choice Voting," sometimes referred to as Instant Runoff Voting, is currently used by San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro. In theory, voters in these jurisdictions rank all of the candidates running for a given office, and the votes for the