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By Brian Hews
The City of Whittier has been hit with a voting rights lawsuit by a group of Latino community activists who feel that minority voters have been discriminated against when it comes to electing city council members.
Three members of the Whittier Latino Coalition filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, against the city of Whittier for violating the California Voter Rights Act by using discriminatory “At-Large” voting systems to elect members of the Whittier City Council.
Several local jurisdictions have faced similar lawsuits or the threat of legal actions over the past several months and years including Cerritos College and Bellflower Unified School District.
Attorneys Rod Pacheco and Felix Woo of Denton’s Law Firm filed the complaint on behalf of Whittier residents Jafet Diego, Miguel Garcia, and Lisa Lopez in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Hews Media Group – Community News obtained a copy of the 20-plus page law suit on Tuesday morning.
In the suit, Pacheco and Woo state that “at-large voting systems in the United States have been historically used to disenfranchise the voting rights act of Americans on account of their race or ethnicity in the Deep South.”
The suit also claims that in the 115 year history of Whittier only one Latino has ever been elected to the city council. Pacheco and Woo charge that they will show that “racially polarizing voting” can be documented, thus strengthens their legal challenge.
Whittier Latino Coalition chairperson Angie Medina said in a prepared statement to the media that, “For 115 years, the city of Whittier has used at-large elections that has disenfranchise Latino voters. We believe the city has recently hired a law firm only to delay addressing our complaint. Therefore, we are moving forward by filing a lawsuit to allow the legal system to remedy this injustice.”
The suit also looks to shift Whittier’s at-large voting system as well as the practice of holding city elections on even numbered years in April instead of consolidating them with general elections.
The complaint also states that “these practices create racially polarized voting that dilutes the vote of Latinos.”
Whittier’s population of 86,177 is 65.7% Latino.
Below is a copy of the lawsuit.
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Whittier’s response:
“Uh we’re are experiencing a massive Mexican/Latino Socialist criminal invasion of our tiny city sponsored by Socialist criminal elements of both the state and federal govt including President Barak Obama and a majority of the Supreme Court, at large elections protect the interests of citizen voters as well as their property taxes and associated property rights, at large elections assist in our right to self determination and maintaining property rights, basic Constitutional rights”
It is almost impossible to beat an entrenched elected official. Let’s face it, most of them keep on running for office only for the salary & perks.
The current systems is unfair, districts and term limits (two terms only) are needed to equal the election playing field and to give bright new faces a chance to bring forth some fresh plans & ideas.
These stale fat old council members, living high off the taxpayer pocketbook, need to say bye-bye. Most of them have been in office for twenty years or longer. Haven’t we paid for their expensive goodies long enough?
I don’t leave a great deal of comments, however i did some searching
and wound up here City of Whittier Hit with Voting Rights Violation Lawsuit by Latino Activists | Hews Media Group-Community News.
And I do have some questions for you if it’s allright.
Could it be just me or does it seem like some of the comments come
across as if they are left by brain dead individuals?
😛 And, if you are posting at additional online sites,
I would like to keep up with anything fresh you have to post.
Could you make a list of every one of your shared pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter
feed?