ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an account of the involvement of a California City with the Voting Rights Act as applied by the United States (US) Department of Justice in the period 1992-94. The Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice was unimpressed. Instead, it found the arguments made by Joaquin G. Avila persuasive. Mr. Avila filed suit against the City on the same day that the City Council decided to enact a single-member district system. The City held several public informational meetings and special City Council meetings to receive public comment on the draft plans. The annexation areas were not very different in terms of 1990 census data from the original city. More favorable to Latino candidacies are lower middle class and middle class areas of the City where Latino populations are less dominant, but where individuals with the financial and social assets necessary to candidacy are more likely to live.
