Orange is sued over council electior -

A lawsuit recently filed in state court seeks to force the city of Orange to change how its City Council members are chosen by voters. The city uses the at-large system, where all voters choose from the slate of candidates for the council. That system dilutes the votes of Latinos, which make up nearly 40 percent of the city s population, said Kevin Shenkman, the attorney who filed the lawsuit. His firm had sent a letter in April 2017 demanding the city adopt district-based elections. Under that system, the city would be carved into geographic districts and the smaller pool of voters in each district would choose a representative to the council. Numerous cities and school districts across Orange County and California have made the shift to district elections in the past few years, many in response to lawsuit threats. We attempted to get the city to change its election system without the need for litigation, Shenkman said. But haven t had any luck. He said the special election in November rather than appoint a Latina candidate, Betty Valencia, was a factor in bringing the lawsuit. Valencia finished third in the November election for two council seats. But another seat opened up because of that election when Mark Murphy rose from being a councilman to mayor. The council had the choice of appointing a replacement or having an election. I understand her views don t with the majority of the council,