CA: Supreme Court reverses ruling on Latino voting rights issue in Santa Monica
August 24, 2023 -- In a major blow to the City, the California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed an Appeals Court ruling that had found Santa Monica's at-large election system did not discriminate against Latino voters.
The court remanded the seven-year-old case to the lower court saying it "relied on an incorrect legal standard to conclude that plaintiffs had failed to satisfy the dilution element of their CVRA (California Voting Rights Act) claim."
"We express no view on the ultimate question of whether the City’s at-large voting system is consistent with the CVRA," the Supreme Court wrote in its 33-page ruling.
But in deciding the plaintiffs had "failed to demonstrate dilution of the Latino vote, (the Appeals Court) did not consider whether voting in council elections was racially polarized."
The ruling directed the Appellate Court to decide "whether, under the correct legal standard, plaintiffs have established that at-large elections dilute their ability to elect their preferred candidate."
https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2023/August-2023/08_24_2023_Supreme_Court_Reverses_Voting_Rights_Ruling_in_Favor_of%20City.html
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It's gonna come up again.
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