Last week, Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm signed off on a historic proposed judgement that involves elections in Mission Viejo. The wealthy South County city was sued last year by civil rights attorney Kevin Shenkman alleging that at-large voting disenfranchised minorities in the city. Mission Viejo officials claimed that carving the city into districts wouldn't lead to more minority councilmembers so decided to go with cumulative voting, a process in which voters get multiple votes that they can use to spread out among candidates or put them all toward one. If the judgement goes forth as expected, Mission Viejo will have such elections in 2020 and will become the first city in California to use the process. Will other OC cities follow?
KCRW
