Asian Americans sue California city for diluting their vote

WHEN WE talk about disenfranchisement, we usually point to the states where Jim Crow laws were once the norm and where today some are trying to install new obstacles to voting. We don't usually think of that happening in California.

As an example of the increasing diversity of California's voters, conservative Asian Americans are not settling for the status quo, nor are they satisfied with going along to get along. They have found unlikely allies in the liberal-leaning American Civil Liberties Union which is filing a lawsuit against the City of Fullerton on behalf of Jonathan Paik of the Korean Resource Center. The ACLU is joined by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice - LA), the Law Office of Robert Rubin, and Sidley Austin, LLP. 

In Fullerton, in the bastion of California conservatism - Orange County - Asian American voters have been trying to get one of their own on the city council to no avail. The at-large voting, they say, works against them. The ACLU filed a lawsuit last week claiming the at-large system works to violate the rights of Asian American voters under the 2001 California Voting Rights Act.

"Almost one in four eligible voters in Fullerton is Asian American, yet despite their sizable numbers, no Asian American currently serves on the city council," said Deanna Kitamura, senior staff attorney at Advancing Justice - LA. "Asian American candidates, who have run for office and enjoyed widespread support from the Asian American community, have been consistently defeated under the at-large voting system, denying the community meaningful and fair representation in the city."

The current city council is all white. The last time an Asian American was on the city council was 1990.

Fullerton, a traditionally conservative and white majority community, has seen an influx of Asian residents. The adjusted Census for 2015 says Asians make up 23 percent of the population. Latinos make up 34 percent and the white population rounds out the balance.

Koreans are by far the largest Asian group with about 50 percent of the Asian population in the Orange County community.

The complaint maps out a history of discrimination in Orange County from the burning down of SanTana's Chinatown in 1906 to Fountain Valley Police's alleged practice in the early 90's of harassing Asian-American youth for nothing more than supposedly wearing gang-related clothing.

An award-winning series by the OC Weekly exposed the many, many Klansmen who served in Fullerton government over the years.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the Fullerton police department in the mid-1980s because of the racial composition of its police force. Since then, the police department is much more diversified.

Lest you think this is a case of liberal Democrats pushing this suit, the Korean community in Fullerton is largely Republican. A Korean American Republican was the last Asian candidate to fail getting on the city council.

"We are asking the city of Fullerton to implement elections that make sure that all communities, including the Asian American community, have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice and that the city council is responsive to the needs of all Fullerton residents," said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, director of the Orange County and Inland Empire offices of the ACLU SoCal. "No one wins when some residents are shut out of government."

"Asian American voters long to participate in Fullerton's city government, but the current at-large system prevents that by diluting our power at the ballot box," said Jonathan Paik, the plaintiff and Fullerton resident. "We join with other voices in our community in calling for a change that provides all residents in this city an opportunity to have a seat at the table."

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