GALT, CA (MPG) - After the November election, Galt City Council members will be elected from specific districts rather than from the city as a whole. City Council started the process at its Oct. 1 meeting to avoid a threatened civil-rights lawsuit.

Multiple councilmembers were reluctant to start the change and cited concerns about creating noncompetitive elections. But they agreed that fighting the attorney pushing for the new election system would be a waste of money with little chance of success.

The city of Galt on Aug. 26 received a letter from law firm Shenkman and Hughes. The Malibu-based firm is known for suing or threatening to sue public agencies across the state for alleged violations of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), unless they do away with “at-large” elections. The California Voting Rights Act is intended to remedy racial inequalities in voting systems.

Supporters such as Shenkman and Hughes argue that at-large elections, in which candidates can live anywhere in a jurisdiction and are chosen by all voters in a jurisdiction, can allow small majorities of white voters to control all of a city’s elected offices, locking out racial minorities, particularly Latinos.

Jurisdictions notified “vote dilution” affecting a minority must switch to “by-district” elections or face litigation. In a by-district system, a jurisdiction is divided into districts, one for each seat. Only residents of a particular district can run for that district’s seat and only other district residents can vote for the seat. This theoretically allows minority groups to elect a candidate of their choice.

“There is a low threshold of proof required. Vote dilution occurs when the votes of the protected-class members are outweighed or diluted by the votes of the presumably nonminority voters,” interim city attorney Frank Splendorio said. “This can be alleged by a review of voting patterns. You don’t have to prove that this is actually occurring.”

In December 2023, the San Francisco Chronicle said Shenkman and Hughes has sent at least 175 such letters to agencies throughout California. Most recipients have switched to by-district elections to avoid litigation; no agency that went to court has won its case.

Both Galt school districts have switched away from at-large votes after receiving letters, Galt Joint Union High School District in 2020 and Galt Joint Union Elementary School District in 2022. The city of Elk Grove switched to by-district elections in 2020 after receiving a letter. Cosumnes Community Services District, which provides fire service in Galt, switched on its own initiative in 2019. Splendorio said Isleton is the only city in Sacramento County that has not received a letter.

City Council adopted a resolution starting the change to by-district votes, and it has 180 days to draw and implement the districts. It will hire a demographer to propose five districts based on the city’s population distribution at a cost of about $30,000. Although the city will prevent a potentially costly court fight, it is required to pay Shenkman and Hughes’ attorney fees, up to $40,000.

In the letter, lawyer Kevin Shenkman cited several past elections as evidence of dilution of the Latino vote. In particular, Shenkman pointed to the unsuccessful City Council campaigns of Eddy Gomez and Mario Garcia in 2014, who he said received “significant” Latino support but little non-Latino support.

Councilmember Shawn Farmer voiced concern that switching would result in less competitive elections. He cited the local school districts, which have a total of four seats up for election but just one competitive election, because the other three seats each have one declared candidate.

“As we’ve seen by the school board elections in our town, which are (by) district, that occurs almost every time in most of the districts, including the race that’s going on right now, where only one district is contested,” Farmer said.

He noted that residents might lose representation in City Council votes that pertain to their location, if their councilmember lives too close to the location and must therefore recuse themselves to avoid a conflict of interest.

“It’s going to completely destroy our city. In my opinion, it’s just going to divide the city,” Farmer said.

Mayor Paul Sandhu said the city is doing nothing wrong “but sometimes we have to compromise.” He said changing to by-district elections would save the city millions of dollars.

Vice-Mayor Rich Lozano said by-district elections create the possibility of electing a councilmember who only cares about their own area.

“Tell me how you are going to develop policy, being one person, one district, on something that’s not in your district?” Lozano said.

During public comment, Galt resident Jerry Sauter said he worried about noncompetitive elections but he acknowledged the potential cost of not switching.

Galt City Council candidates Tim Reed and Bonnie Rodriguez said the switch would have a negative impact. Reed said he and the other current City Council candidates do not live close together, which he said would have resulted in a noncompetitive election under a by-district system.

Rodriguez spoke about the 2014 City Council candidates cited by Shenkman, saying that the two lost because they did not actively campaign. She urged the city to “make (Shenkman) actually work for” the legal fees before complying.

Contacted by the Herald, Shenkman said his law firm identifies voter dilution using a statistical technique that involves taking the number of voters in each precinct with Spanish surnames and comparing that to the vote totals for a given candidate.

Shenkman said by-district elections result in more competition, in aggregate, than at-large votes, because a candidate has to reach fewer voters to win.

“Overall, there are more candidates that run, not less,” Shenkman said.

City Council passed the resolution by a 4-1 vote, with Farmer opposed.

The 2024 election is not affected by the resolution; the city’s first by-district election will be in 2026, when three seats will be up for votes. The remaining two seats will come up in 2028.