Higginson said the law is unconstitutional on its face because it requires gerrymandering based on race or ethnicity.
Former Poway Mayor Don Higginson has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).
Under threat of expensive litigation, Poway became the most recent city in San Diego County to be forced to change the way it elects its city council members, from an at-large system, which is said to violate the voting rights act, to a by-district system.
Higginson is being represented by The Project of Fair Representation, a nonprofit legal foundation based in Arlington, Va., which will fund the litigation. He filed the lawsuit Wednesday in San Diego federal court.
The voting rights act is designed to give minority members of a community a better chance at representation on city council and other local government agencies.
When a demand letter was sent to the city this summer from Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman threatening to sue if Poway didn’t immediately change the way it elects its council, the city council reluctantly did so to avoid potentially costly legal fees in what history has shown would likely be a losing court battle.
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