Palm Springs settles potential California Voting Rights Act lawsuit
Palm Springs has settled with the Southwest Voter Registration Project (SVRP), 9 months after the voting rights group threatened a lawsuit against the city for its alleged violation of the California Voting Rights Act.
When legal action was first threatened in March, SVRP claimed in a letter that Palm Springs’ at-large election system “has diminished the ability of Latino residents to impact elections and has resulted in racially polarized voting,” The letter also focused in on the city’s “large Latino population and historic lack of Latino representation on the City Council.”
“Remember in Palm Springs in the 80 years we’ve been a city, we have elected one Latino and one African-American to our city council, yet today one-third of the residents of Palm Springs are people of color,” councilmember Lisa Middleton told News Channel 3’s Jake Ingrassia. “We are going to have people in communities that have felt left out that are going to participate in our city in the future.”
Cathedral City gears up for first district-based elections
Two weeks ago, Palm Springs voted to adopt the final map for their first district elections, which will begin with the November 2019 general municipal election. In 2019, district 1, 2, and 3 will vote for their respective council seats, while district 4 and 5 will vote in 2021.
No city has won a lawsuit against SVREP to date.
“The settlement resolves all claims and issues to date related to the California Voting Rights Act between both parties,” said City Attorney Edward Kotkin. “This is good news for the City of Palm Springs as we move forward with district elections in 2019.”
The city has agreed to pay SVREP a maximum of $30,000 to cover attorney fees and no party bears specific liability, according to a City of Palm Springs News release.
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