East Palo Alto voters will decide on Nov. 3, 2026 whether to set term limits for their City Council for the first time. Measure CC would cap members at three consecutive four-year terms, or 12 years, after which they would have to sit out two years before running again. Right now, East Palo Alto council members can serve as long as voters keep re-electing them.

What's on the ballot

The ballot question reads: "Shall the measure providing that no person shall be eligible to serve for more than three (3) consecutive full terms on the City Council be adopted, with service of partial terms exceeding two years qualifying as a full term?"

  • Yes adopts term limits for council members.
  • No keeps the current system with no limit.
  • A partial term of more than two years counts as a full term.
  • It is not retroactive: terms served before December 2026 would not count, according to the League of Women Voters of South San Mateo County.
  • It needs a simple majority to pass. The League lists no fiscal effect.

Why supporters back it

Mayor Webster Lincoln, who made term limits a council priority in 2025, introduced the measure because he wants "healthy" turnover that keeps the council "responsive," he told Palo Alto Online. He said it would not remove sitting members: "It's about the structure, not any one person."

Supporters note that six of San Mateo County's 20 cities already have council term limits, as do state legislators, the governor, the president and the county Board of Supervisors. A city poll taken in June and July found about 55% of respondents would "definitely" support term limits and 18% "probably" would, while about 9% said "definitely no" and 7% "probably no," Palo Alto Online reported, citing a city statement.

Council member Mark Dinan told Palo Alto Online that long-serving members are often resistant to change on housing and development. "It's good to have new people on council to bring fresh eyes to old problems, new perspectives," he said.

Why opponents are against it

Council member Carlos Romero, on the council since 2008, was the lone vote in May against placing the measure on the ballot. He sided with city staff, who advised waiting so it would not interfere with the city's bond measure. "We have natural term limits," Romero said. "Those natural term limits are: You get voted out of office because you're not doing your work."

The League's guide summarizes the opposition's case: voters can already remove members, most county cities have no limits, and caps cut the experience members bring to the council and regional boards. It lists Javanni Brown, Ravneel Chaudhary and Luis Rosas as opponents. Lincoln, Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica and Council members Dinan and Martha Barragan voted to put the measure on the ballot.

Measure CC shares the ballot with East Palo Alto's $125 million Measure O infrastructure bond. The city posts the full text, impartial analysis and arguments for and against on its elections page. See every local measure in our 2026 Bay Area election guide.