ABSTRACT
In California, the movement by activists to replace at-large with single-member district elections begins with two voting rights suits, Gomez v. City of Watsonville and Romero v. City of Pomona. In 1985, a labor dispute brought several thousand Latino workers out on strike against two local food processing plants, the Watsonville Cannery and Shaw Frozen Foods. Cruz Gomez, a Latina leader of the movement in support of the strike, and a co-founder of a low-income health clinic, was prominent in the effort to change the city's electoral system. Joaquin Avila met with Latino leaders in Salinas and, in August of 1988 filed suit against the City's at-large system. Pomona's large minority population made it an attractive target for a challenge to its modified at-large electoral arrangements. The City spent a million dollars on its successful defense in the Romero case. The process of developing the several conceptual districts was dominated by two incumbent members of the Council.
