Other jurisdictions are paying heed. In the wake of Oakley's order, the Madera City Council decided to switch to district elections, City Councilman Robert Poythress said. And in neighboring Fresno County, where 28 of 32 school boards use at-large elections, all 28 decided to follow Madera's lead and switch to district elections, county schools Supt. Larry Powell said.
"I've had no chafing on the part of anybody," he said. "They said, 'It's the right thing to do. Let's do it.' "
Similar discussions are taking place in other counties. Ultimately, Rubin said, the electoral change will transform "the literal face of California politics."
That is a lot to lay at the feet of Lopez, who was surprised to hear that his case had implications outside Madera. The son of a former county supervisor, Lopez said he volunteered to join the case out of concern that at-large voting made it too difficult for Latinos to win.
Madera, about 20 miles northwest of Fresno, has had Latino residents as long as anyone can remember -- probably since it was founded in the 19th century. Today's Latino population is a mix of long-established families, many of them securely middle class, and a large influx of newcomers, many of them poor, Spanish-speaking immigrants from Mexico.
The city of 55,000 is more than two-thirds Latino. Yet just one Latino sits on its seven-member school board. Why can't a Latino majority elect more Latinos?
The easy answer is that many of the newly arrived immigrants are not U.S. citizens and can't vote. But Latinos hold a slight majority even among U.S. citizens of voting age.
In interviews, several incumbent board members and a member of Madera's City Council argued that Latinos had effectively marginalized themselves, with too few involved in civic affairs.
"To be honest with you, over the 17 years that I have been on the board . . . there haven't been that many Hispanics or Latinos who have taken out papers to run," said Robert Garibay, the lone Latino trustee. It frustrates him, especially when he hears people in the Latino community complain about a lack of representation.
"Where were they?" he asked.
Garibay argued that Latinos were, perhaps, discouraged from running because "they don't feel that they have a chance." As a result, he said, "they don't get involved, for the most part, in community events." That is the argument made in interviews by the three plaintiffs.
