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City of San Leandro <br />City Council <br />Meeting Date: January 6, 2025 <br />Agenda Number: 5.g. <br />Agenda Section: CONSENT CALENDAR <br />File Number: 25-013 <br />File Type: Staff Report <br />Adopt a Resolution to Adopt Process and Timeline for Transition to District-Based Election System and <br />Redistricting Pursuant to California Elections Code sec. 10010. <br />SUMMARY <br />A letter received by the City alleged violations of the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”) due to <br />racially polarized voting that disenfranchises Asian American voters (“Letter”). Further <br />correspondence with the law firm that submitted the Letter demanded the City convert from its <br />existing at-large election system to a district-based election system for City Council races. <br />RECOMMENDATIONS <br />Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution demonstrating the City’s intention to <br />transition to a district-based election system as well as a proposed process and timeline for both <br />the City’s conversion of its election method and its redistricting protocol. <br />BACKGROUND <br />On November 21, 2024, the City received a demand letter from the firm Goldstein Borgen <br />Dardarian & Ho on behalf of Robert Bulatao (“Claimant”), a resident and unsuccessful candidate <br />for the District 6 City Council in the City’s November 2024 election. Claimant alleges the City’s <br />current election system produces racially polarized voting , resulting in vote dilution. Claimant’s <br />letter does not include any statistical data to substantiate these claims, but Claimant proposes <br />that the City transition from its existing at-large election system to a district-based election <br />system. The City Council is currently analyzing the claims. <br />Under Section 225 the City’s Charter, City Councilmembers are elected under an at-large <br />election system, which allows voters from the entire City to choose each of the six (6) <br />Councilmembers. In the past, the City Council has raised the issue of amending City Charter <br />Section 225 to a district-based election system. Under the proposed district-based election <br />system, the City’s voters would be limited to electing one Councilmember from the district in <br />which they reside, whereby the Councilmember also resides in that district. <br />Legal Analysis <br />The Federal Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965 to protect the rights of Americans of all races <br />to vote. The CVRA, which was signed into law in 2001, is intended to expand the protections <br />provided by Federal law by making it easier for plaintiffs to prevail in lawsuits against public <br />entities that utilize at-large elections for electing members to their governing bodies. The CVRA <br />Page 1 City of San Leandro Printed on 9/4/2025