Why can cities retain election systems that racially discriminate

From Sameea KamalCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

It’s been six years since Judge decreed that Santa Monica’s election system was discriminating against Latin American voters. At that time there were at least three more elections – but the city did not have to change the way it manages them.

This is because the coastal city of Los Angeles is appealed and under the current legislation is not required to change the process until all complaints have been heard.

Assembly Anamari Avila Farias He thinks this needs to change.

“Even after the Court Determined An at-Large Election System Is Unlawful and Radically Discriminatory, The Local Body Can Hold Elections Utilizing Their UnlawFul System By Delay This Process, During Which Time Justice for Communities of Color Is Delayed and Voters Are Disenfranchised, “The Democrat from Concord Said In a hearing of the Assembly Judicial Commission last weekS

According to the “largest” electoral systems, such as Santa Monica, all who live in a city vote on the same set of candidates. In the electoral system based in the area, the city is divided into areas, and voters choose from candidates who are struggling to represent only their neighborhood.

Avila Farias’ proposal It would mean that the courts would no longer retain the current election process during the process of appeal in cases related to the State Voting Rights Act.

Sylvia Shaw, a lobbyist representing Santa Monica, said the proposal could force cities to change their electoral systems repeatedly as the courts weigh the final result of the case.

This may include loading selected staff outside the Council or forcing those who want to run for a quick money collection. Shaw said that this could deprive voters of the fact that someone represents them for some period and would be expensive and confusing.

“This would lead to an expensive and potentially temporary repair of a voting system that can leave the voters of minorities in the city worse than within the largest system,” she told the committee.

Maria Loya, a former City Council candidate who is The plaintiff in the 2016 case against Santa MonicaHe said the city continues to use taxpayers dollars to fight it.

“We are trying to ensure that there is a permanent representative from our neighborhood and to ensure that color candidates – more special Mexican Americans and Latinos – are not only able to run, but have the ability to win a selected position,” Loa said.

Kevin Schenkman, lawyer who fought with dozens of cases In order to force more jurisdictions to move from the largest to the vote based in the district, you stated that the issue was not unique to Santa Monica, which is why a change in the law is needed.

He tries a similar case against Huntington Beach in August, who expects to be resolved in favor of the plaintiffs who claim that, as in Santa Monica, the city of big city’s big elections in the city Dilute the vote of the residents of Latinos And prevent them from being able to choose a candidate of their choice. He believes the city will appeal as many times as possible.

“Latin American voters in Huntington Beach should not wait for their right to vote while the city of Huntington Beach appeals and appeals and appeals to cling to their power,” he said.

Therefore, the legislation is not just for 92,000 Santa Monica voters, he said, but for all 39 million voters in California.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.