SF Chronicle Investigates Mixed Record of California Voting Rights Act

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2002, California became the first state to pass its own voting rights act with the aim of increasing minority representation at the local level. But as a recent San Francisco Chronicle investigation found, the California Voting Rights Act has produced mixed results— and the state does not track its outcomes. In some localities, the law has led to better community representation and more people of color sitting on city councils and school boards. But in others, it had no effect — and even caused more no-contest or canceled elections. And the financial penalties it allows for have hurt cash-strapped smaller municipalities — without necessarily changing the demographics of elected officials. We’ll talk about the three-part investigative series into how the California Voting Rights Act changed community elections and local governments — and its unintended effects. Guests: Jason Fagone, narrative writer, San Francisco Chronicle Daniel Lempres, criminal justice reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KGBD Podcasts comes from Landmark College, offering a fully online graduate-level
0:06.1	certificate in learning differences in neurodiversity program. Visit landmark.edu slash certificate to learn more.
0:13.9	Support for Forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:21.4	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:27.7	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia.
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0:54.7	From KQED.
0:56.1	From KQED.
1:16.0	I'm Guy Marzarati in Fermina Kim. Coming up on forum, the most powerful state law that many Californians have never heard of.
1:21.6	Is how a recent three-part San Francisco Chronicle investigation describes California's Voting Rights Act.
1:28.3	The law encourages district-based rather than at-large elections based on research suggesting
1:34.3	these lead to more representative city councils and local boards.
1:38.3	The Chronicle investigation found numerous success stories of the law doing just that,
1:43.3	but a small group of plaintiff's
1:45.1	attorneys were enriched along the way.
1:47.5	We'll hear more next after this news.
1:57.6	This is Forum.
1:58.9	I'm Guy Marzarati in for Mina Kim. We're talking this morning about the California
2:03.1	Voting Rights Act. Passed in 2002, the CVRA has forced many cities to switch from at-large elections
2:10.0	in favor of district-based ones, which research shows can lead to more representative school boards
	...

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