Rancho Cucamonga has elected council members via at-large voting since the city incorporated in 1977.
That came under last week as a lawsuit was filed that asks a judge to force the council to impose districts for the number election. The lawsuit had been threatened in December saying that the city violates the California Voting Rights Act. Seven other cities got a similar letter.
Since the City of Rancho Cucamonga is home to over 100,000 residents, any changes would have to be voted on by the people and not by a council ordinance. The council currently has three public hearings scheduled to facilitate discussion on the matter and the issue would come to a vote in November.
Rancho Cucamonga is roughly one-third Latino, but has not seen an elected Latino in over a decade. The City has four Council Seats that have staggered terms and an elected at-large Mayor.
In the meantime, the city is actually soliciting districting suggestions via a website. So if you want to break out the crayons and calculator, districts have to be close in population, you can. The website also shows three proposed districting scenario complete with demographic data for each.
More on Rancho Cucamonga’s potential districts can be found here.