The city of Solvang is moving toward implementing district elections after receiving a letter from a Malibu-based attorney that claims the city’s existing at-large voting system is racially biased.
In the letter, attorney Kevin Shenkman said he represents the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and its members who live in Solvang. Citing U.S. Census Bureau data from 2010, Shenkman said in the letter that Latinos make up 29.2 percent of the city’s population but have generally not been represented on the City Council.
“The contrast between the significant Latino proportion of the electorate and the historical underrepresentation of Latinos to be elected to the Solvang City Council is outwardly disturbing and fundamentally hostile towards participation from members of this protected class,” the letter states.
Switching to a district-based election system, the letter states, may help a minority group elect its preferred representative. In the letter, Shenkman said that if the city doesn’t voluntarily make this change, he and his clients will take the matter to court.
Shenkman has sent similar letters to other cities throughout the state in recent years claiming they are in violation of the California Voting Rights Act, which has been in place since 2001. In 2013, the city of Palmdale took the issue to court, lost the case, and was required to reimburse Shenkman’s legal costs of about $4.6 million, according to a Los Angeles Times story from 2017.
At the Solvang City Council meeting on May 11, a few weeks after the city received Shenkman’s letter, City Attorney Chip Wullbrandt said the California Voting Rights Act makes it easy for an attorney to challenge at-large election systems and nearly impossible for a city to defend the system in court.
Wullbrandt said other cities in Santa Barbara County—including Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Buellton—have begun the transition to district elections in recent years. Buellton received a letter from Shenkman in 2018 and worked out a deal to start district elections in 2022, after the 2020 census. Wullbrandt said he’d try to work out a similar deal for Solvang.
As a result, the council directed city staff to move forward with a resolution stating that the city intends to shift to a district-based election system. This process will include at least four public meetings where residents can weigh in on the drawing of district maps. Wullbrandt said because of the way the city’s charter is written, the process of electing the city’s mayor will remain an at-large decision.
According to a report from the League of Califonia Cities about litigation involving the California Voting Rights Act, cities that receive demand letters—such as the one Shenkman sent to Solvang—have 45 days to pass a resolution declaring their intent to change their election systems and an additional 90 days to adopt the change. Even if cities meet these deadlines, they often still have to pay $30,000 in fees and costs to the plaintiffs who sent the letter.
Councilmember Chris Djernaes questioned whether this process is “legal extortion.” Similarly, Councilmember Robert Clarke, who said he’s not against district elections, called the situation a “racket.”
The council must adopt a resolution stating its intent to switch to district elections by June 18.
This article appears in May 14-21, 2020.