[EL] Palmdale California VRA case (Fredric Woocher)

[David Ely]

Regarding the issue of why the CVRA does not just duplicate the Federal VRA.
There is a situation that is common in California, but relatively rare in
much of the US, communities with no individual majority group.  If Anglos
comprise a plurality of voters in a city but a small minority of voters in
some communities with larger Asian, Black and Latino minorities, it is quite
possible to have a situation in which a district system provides an
opportunity for cooperation or competition for representation for minority
groups in one or more districts, while an at-large system can be dominated
by Anglo voters with slate voting.  In federal court it would be necessary
to show the ability to draw a district with a majority of CVAP for one group
or to prove cohesion among minority groups, which might be impossible
because different minority groups might well have different interests.  This
situation is what initial analysis of data appeared to show in Palmdale when
the case was filed. 

 

Another reason for the adoption of the CVRA was to reduce the cost of
litigation, and provide an avenue to fix some of these problems without
presenting losing jurisdictions with as large a bill for plaintiff costs.

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