California is undergoing a massive sea change when it comes to how local elections are conducted. In the past few years, countless cities and school districts have abandoned at-large voting under legal pressure from groups who say the system dilutes minority votes and decreases minority representation.
In May, City News profiled one of the people leading that charge, Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman. But he’s not alone. A civil rights group known as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) has also taken up the cause with tremendous success.
“It’s important work because it gives the Latino community an opportunity for the first time often to elect representatives of their choice to city councils and school boards,” said MALDEF President Thomas A. Saenz. His group has been behind election system changes in Redlands, La Mirada, Placentia and Bellflower. But the truth of how these efforts are playing out in real life is a bit more complicated.
Officials’ opinions of MALDEF also differ. Some have worked well with the group on reaching a compromise. Others, like Redlands Mayor Paul Foster, aren’t big fans of their “blind shotgun approach.”
MALDEF and its supporters aren’t going away any time soon, but we could begin to see a shift in some of its priorities.
“The work involving changing cities and school districts and special districts, as well as community college districts, from at large systems to district systems … will continue,” Saenz insists. However, with Donald Trump in office, MALDEF says it also plans to place more emphasis on the actions of the federal government.
It’s already starting. In May, the group came out against Trump’s advisory commission on voter fraud. The following month, it filed suit against Texas over a law banning sanctuary cities. Last month, MALDEF filed a motion intended to keep Obama-era protections in place for undocumented children.
Read more about MALDEF and its plans for the future here.