Cypress may be the latest in a host of Orange County to switch to a district election system after facing a California Voting Rights lawsuit alleging the current system disenfranchises Asian American voters.
The expected switch is part of a larger trend across California in recent years as voting rights groups demand local governments transition out of the at-large election systems they say disenfranchises voters of color.
Yet Cypress was one of the few cities that fought back against the legal threats.
So did Brea – where residents sued the city in an effort to stop the switch to district elections.
But now Cypress City Council members are expected to vote at a special 6 p.m. meeting Wednesday on whether to settle a lawsuit challenging their election system.
They are also expected to vote on a resolution showing their intention to make a switch to district voting and a $50,000 agreement with the National Demographics Corporation to establish electoral districts.
Yet city hall officials are still defending the current at-large voting system.
“This new by-district election system would deprive voters of the opportunity to select all members of the City Council, a right that Cypress residents have enjoyed throughout the City’s history,” reads a Jan. 5 city news release.
In by-district elections, residents can only vote for a candidate who lives in their district – only having a say on who gets to sit on one of the seats at the dais.
In at-large elections, voters across the city can vote for as many candidates as there are council seats up for grabs. For example, if three seats are up for election, voters can vote for three candidates – the top three vote-getters are then elected to those seats.
The debate comes after a California Supreme Court ruling last year against the City of Santa Monica in a similar case and after Cypress officials met with a mediator to assess their chances of winning the lawsuit.
“The Santa Monica ruling significantly reduced the likelihood that Cypress’ at-large election could be found to comply with (California Voting Rights Act),” reads a staff report.
“While the City remains confident that Cypress’ at-large election system effectively represents the entire community, it is also clear that there have been consequential changes to circumstances surrounding the lawsuit since the City began defending against it.”
Wednesday’s meeting also comes over a year after Cypress residents Malini Nagpal and Kathryn Shapiro, along with the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) sued the city in July 2022 alleging that Cypress’ election system violates the California Voting Rights Act and disenfranchises Asian American voters.
“The Asian American citizens of Cypress whose voting rights are immediately harmed by the City of Cypress’ adherence to an unlawful at-large system of electing its city council are hindered from protecting their own interests,” the complaint filing reads.
[Read: Cypress Sued For Violating Voting Rights Act After Refusing District Elections]
Under the proposed settlement agreement, Cypress will have to implement district elections by the November 2024 election and create a map with public input that cuts up the city into five election districts by Feb. 26
Click here to view the settlement agreement.
The city estimates the cost for Cypress to make the transition to by-district elections at roughly $100,000, according to a staff report.
OC Cities Pushback Against District Elections
Legal threats and lawsuits have successfully forced cities like Anaheim Garden Grove, San Juan Capistrano, Fullerton, Orange and Santa Ana to make the change in the past decade,
But in recent years officials in Brea and Cypress – two of the county’s smaller cities – pushed back against the threats, arguing that they aren’t disenfranchising voters and that residents are concerned with losing their ability to vote for all seats on the city council.
[Read: Could Two of OC’s Smaller Cities Buck California’s Trend Toward District Elections?]
In Brea, officials were on the brink of switching election systems, but changed course after former city council candidates Richard Rios and Michael Kim sued the city arguing the switch to district elections would cause the exact problems that the state’s Voting Rights Act was intended to solve.
[Read: Will Brea’s Century-Old Election System Be Nixed? Residents Fight Switch to District Voting]
The lawsuit in Cypress came after officials decided to ignore letters from Malibu-based Attorney Kevin Shenkman, on behalf of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, threatening to sue the city if they did not switch their at-large election system to a by-district system.
Cypress officials disputed that their election system disenfranchised Asian Americans and argued that no areas in the city have a high concentration of any protected class under the state’s voting rights act.
Brea officials who received a similar letter from Shenkman also took a stand against the legal threat to change their election system.
No California city has been able to maintain an at-large election system after a California Voting Rights Act challenge.
Shenkman said in a phone interview Monday that Brea should get ahead of things now.
“Otherwise,” he said. “They’ll end up in the same position as Cypress.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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