Thompson

Appellants, Willie Mae Thompson et al., appeal from a judgment denying a petition for a writ of mandate by the Superior Court of Alameda County. Appellants sought mandate to compel respondents, Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters of Alameda County, to act on their referendum petition. For the reasons below, we affirm.

The facts are not in dispute.

In October 1983, the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County (the Board), enacted ordinance No. 83-77, which reapportioned existing supervisorial voting districts. The June 5, 1984, primary election was held using these newly created districts.

Thereafter, opponents of the redistricting circulated initiative petitions calling for the adoption of an ordinance which would repeal the 1983 redistricting ordinance and revert to the district lines previously established in 1981. The initiative received the requisite number of signatures and was submitted to the Board. (See Elec. Code, § 3701.)

Under section 3711, the Board was required to either adopt the ordinance proposed by the initiative “without change” or submit the measure “without alteration” to the voters at the next election. The Board purported to enact the…