The Advocate

Well, I told y'all this was gonna happen . I said it again and again in public comments to the city and letters to the editor in the local paper. It was only a matter of time before someone finally decided enough is enough and that's exactly what's happened. The City of San Leandro is on the verge of being sued for violating the California Voting Rights Act. Why? Because it has continued to refuse to use district-based elections. Instead, San Leandro uses at-large district elections where candidates must live in the district they run for office in, but are voted on by the entire city. This dilutes people's voting power, particularly for members of underrepresented groups, and exponentially increases the costs of running for elected office. The result? Our local elected officials are either independently wealthy or wholly reliant on special interest groups to fund their campaigns. They don't tend to focus on the interests of the constituents in their district, and th...