Activists seek halt to Whittier’s spring council elections

Activists seeking a change in how Whittier voters select members of the City Council have asked the court to halt the city’s April municipal election.

Attorneys for three Latino Whittier residents are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the election, which calls for voters across the city to choose among candidates for the City Council.

Critics of the at-large method of selecting council members, including the Whittier residents who are suing the city under the California Voting Rights Act, want it to change to a system of electing officeholders by geographic district.

At-large elections undercut minorities’ opportunities to elect a candidate they feel can best represent them, activists contend in separate cases brought against cities, school districts and other local government bodies with substantial minority populations but few or no minority elected representatives.

“The at-large election process in the city of Whittier dilutes the Latino vote, which results in the polarization of voters,” former state Democratic state Sen. Richard Polanco said in a statement announcing the filing of the injunction Thursday.

“This form of discrimination is wrong and should not be allowed,” added Polanco, author of the voting rights act, which was signed into law in July 2002.

Whittier officials will ask voters at a special elecction in June whether to change to by-district elections, but activists say the change should come before any more municipal elections are held.

“We believe that it is imperative that the city of Whittier suspend all council elections until the voter rights violations are resolved,” said Angie Medina, chair of the Whittier Latino Coalition.

Whittier officials said they cannot make a change in the elections system without voter approval, according to the city’s charter.

Seeking to halt the regularly scheduled election is “aggressive action to thwart the opportunity for local voters to participate in the upcoming election,” city officials said in a written statement released by City Manager Jeffrey W. Collier.

The activists’ bid to stop the April election further illustrates their questionable motives to manipulate voter rights in Whittier--all the while running up extensive legal costs at the expense of local tax paying residents,” the statement continued.

A Superior Court judge recently overturned the recent at-large council election in Palmdale, which he had earlier found to be in violation of the voting rights act. The city plans to appeal.

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Twitter: @jeanmerl

jean.merl@latimes.com