[EL] Anaheim and ACLU settle Anaheim CA VRA lawsuit

[Douglas Johnson]

The City of Anaheim and the ACLU have settled the lawsuit alleging the city
violates the California Voting Rights Act.
 
The City agreed to pull its "from-district" (residence requirement, but not
voting, districts) system from the June ballot, and instead to put the
question of a "by-district" election on the November ballot. The Mayor would
remain a separately-elected, at-large position (as it is today).
 
If the charter change is approved, a commission comprised of retired judges
will be named to draw the districts. If voters reject the change, ACLU and
the plaintiffs agree they will not re-file the case under CA nor Federal
law.
 
This is a compromise result: the Council previously refused to put the
measure on the ballot; the plaintiffs also previously opposed putting the
measure on the ballot, as their believe was the City should simply settle
the case and have the judge order the change.
 
A city politics blog's summary of the announcement, along with links to the
settlement agreement, is here:
 
<http://anaheimblog.net/2014/01/07/anaheim-city-council-unanimously-approves
-compromise-settlement-with-aclu/>
http://anaheimblog.net/2014/01/07/anaheim-city-council-unanimously-approves-
compromise-settlement-with-aclu/

 

-        Doug

 

Douglas Johnson, Fellow

Rose Institute of State and Local Government

at Claremont McKenna College 

douglas.johnson at cmc.edu

310-200-2058 

 

 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20140108/adbc963a/attachment.html>