Justices: Modesto must let group challenge election procedure for City Council
By ADAM ASHTON BEE STAFF WRITER Last Updated: December 8, 2006, 06:13:22 AM PST Source: Modesto Bee
Modesto must comply with a 2001 state voting law and allow a group of Latinos to seek electoral reforms through the judicial system, a state appeals court has ruled.
The decision could force Modesto to abandon its at-large City Council elections in favor of district seats that would represent particular neighborhoods. The decision was handed down Wednesday by the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno.
It follows a 2004 lawsuit brought by three people who claimed Modesto's citywide elections disenfranchised the city's Latino population, which makes up 29.6 percent of the community.
They argue that at-large elections work against minority candidates and concentrate the City Council's attention on well-off neighborhoods. None of the council's seven members lives west of Highway 99.
"The at-large system has resulted in the dilution of Latino votes, and I think it's obvious there's been a lack of responsiveness to the concerns of the Latino community given the abject conditions many of them are living in," said Robert Rubin, a civil rights attorney representing the group.
Appellate Justice Rebecca A. Wiseman's opinion upholds the California Voting Rights Act, which allows people to go to court to demand reforms if they can show that "racially polarized" elections result in the dilution of minority votes.
Justices Thomas A. Harris and Dennis A. Cornell joined Wiseman in unanimously siding with Rubin's clients.
Their decision overturned a 2005 ruling by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger M. Beauchesne, who sided with the city. Beauchesne wrote that the Voting Rights Act violated constitutional protections that require all people to be treated equally under the law.
Wiseman wrote that the Voting Rights Act was race-neutral and in compliance with the Constitution's equal protection clause.
"The reality in California is that no racial group forms a majority. As a result, any racial group can experience the kind of vote dilution the (California Voting Rights Act) was designed to combat," Wiseman wrote.
Wiseman's opinion sends Rubin's clients back to Stanislaus County Superior Court, where they will have to prove Modesto's citywide elections dilute La-tino votes. Rubin said it isn't clear when that trial would take place.
John McDermott, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Modesto, said he would recommend the city appeal Wiseman's ruling. That decision is the City Council's to make.
McDermott contends that the Voting Rights Act violates previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings that prohibit racial preferences.
"It doesn't matter if the use of race is benign or invidious. It doesn't matter if it benefits or burdens," McDermott said.
The city could reach a compromise with district election proponents, City Manager George Britton said in outlining Modesto's options.
The timing of Wiseman's opinion dovetails with discussions of the city's charter review committee, a group of 11 people charged with analyzing Modesto election laws.
They are expected to discuss district elections before they issue a set of recommendations to the City Council this spring, said lawyer George Petrulakis, the committee's chairman.
Five years ago, Modesto voters roundly rejected district elections 66 percent to 33 percent in a citywide vote.
Nonetheless, some Latino leaders say, a similar proposal could fare better if it gets another shot.
"We need to revisit it because there's quite a few people in the community out there that want to see the district elections take place," said Carolina Ball, a charter review committee member and chief executive of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Balvino Irizarry, who served on the council from 1987 to 1991, is the only Latino to win a council seat in nearly 100 years. He favors district elections.
"The fact that I did it proves that it can be done. But the fact that I'm the only one since 1910 proves that there's a problem in the system," he said.
Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at 578-2366 or
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