{"id":63110,"date":"2015-05-07T07:26:45","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T14:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=63110"},"modified":"2015-05-07T15:06:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T22:06:53","slug":"palmdale-settles-voting-rights-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/05\/07\/palmdale-settles-voting-rights-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmdale settles voting rights case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Court\"<\/a>PALMDALE \u2013 The City of Palmdale has reached an agreement with the plaintiffs in the California Voting Rights Act case and will hold a series of community meetings in the future to explain the upcoming changes to its method of electing its City Council members.<\/p>\n

Under the settlement agreement that was reached Wednesday night, Palmdale agreed to pay $4.5 million to the plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys and implement a new voting system, beginning with the November 2016 election. [View the settlement agreement with supporting exhibits here<\/em><\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Palmdale will be divided into four districts, using a map that was drafted by the plaintiffs and ordered by the trial court. There will be one councilmember per district. Residents will no longer be able to vote for the entire city council, but rather will vote only for the councilmember for their district. The seat of Mayor will continue to be a citywide, at large vote. Palmdale will hold its elections in November of even numbered years to coincide with either the presidential or gubernatorial election cycles, and the city will request that the Los Angeles County Registrar consolidate Palmdale\u2019s election with the general election.<\/p>\n

The voting rights lawsuit alleged that Palmdale’s at-large method of electing members to its City Council prevented Latino and African-American residents from electing candidates of their choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch vote dilution is illegal under both the federal and California Voting Rights Acts and the courts agreed that it was taking place in Palmdale,\u201d stated attorney R. Rex Parris who represented the plaintiffs. Parris is the mayor of Lancaster, which uses the at-large method of electing members to its City Council.<\/p>\n

In 2013, after a trial, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Mooney ruled that Palmdale had violated the California Voting Rights Act and ordered the city to propose changes to its voting process to address the violation. Palmdale appealed and continued with its at-large election in November 2013. In that election, Fred Thompson became the first African-American to win a seat on the Palmdale City Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in office in spite of, not because of, this lawsuit,\u201d Thompson stated. \u201cMy story demonstrates that this lawsuit was both unnecessary and disingenuous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City of Palmdale will pursue action to encourage the California Legislature to fix the California Voting Rights Act \u201cwhich in its current form leaves cities, counties and school districts susceptible to frivolous lawsuits,\u201d Palmdale city officials said in a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just Palmdale that\u2019s being victimized. To date, and to our knowledge, there are 25 such cases across the state, and the taxpayers are currently on the hook for more than $13.8 million dollars \u2013 with the legal meter running,\u201d stated City Attorney Matthew Ditzhazy. City officials listed all the voting rights cases in California and settlement costs. [View the list here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Palmdale will hold three public meetings (on dates to be announced) to inform the public on its new voting system. All current Palmdale Councilmembers will remain in office until the next Council is sworn in following the November 2016 election.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Court grants Palmdale\u2019s appeal to halt contempt proceedings in voting rights case<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Palmdale to appeal in voting rights case<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Palmdale continues to appeal voting rights court decision despite Supreme Court snub<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Palmdale to continue fighting Voting Rights Act ruling<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Thompson appointed to council vacancy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Lancaster compliant with Voting Rights Act, expert claims<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Palmdale to residents: All elections are on!<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Palmdale to appeal judge\u2019s decision to cancel council election<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Shenkman\/Parris file injunction to halt Palmdale election<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 The City of Palmdale has reached an agreement with the plaintiffs in the California Voting Rights Act case and will hold a series of community meetings in the future to explain the upcoming changes to its method of electing its City Council members. Under the settlement agreement that was reached Wednesday night, Palmdale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}