圣塔莫尼卡少数族裔选举权诉讼遭法官驳回 持续约10年法律争端迎转折
加利福尼亚州洛杉矶县圣塔莫尼卡市消息，洛杉矶县圣塔莫尼卡市一场持续约10年的选举权诉讼，11月7日迎来重大司法进展。洛杉矶县高等法院Daniel Crowley法官批准市政府提出的驳回请求，使这起围绕市议会选举制度的长期法律争端遭遇重大转折。法官要求市政府律师准备正式书面命令，供原告律师审阅，后续是否提出上诉仍值得关注。
案件最早于2016年提出，原告包括皮科社区协会及当地居民Maria Loya。他们长期质疑圣塔莫尼卡采用的全市范围选举制度，认为这种制度可能削弱某些少数族裔社区的政治代表性。在全市范围选举制度下，所有符合资格的选民都可以参与选举市议员，而不是按照居住区域分别选出代表。支持分区选举的人士认为，当一个城市不同社区的族裔人口分布不均衡时，全市选举可能导致人口较少的社区难以选出自己支持的代表；而支持全市选举制度的人士则认为，市议员应当对整个城市负责，分区选举可能造成社区之间的政治分割。
这场争议涉及《加州投票权法》，其核心目标之一是防止选举制度不合理地削弱受保护群体的投票影响力。该案件历经多个层级的司法审理，成为加州地方选举制度争议中的重要案例，对洛杉矶县其他城市也有参考意义。包括华裔、拉丁裔和其他亚裔在内的少数族裔社区，近年来越来越重视地方市议会、学区董事会和水区理事会的政治代表性。
Judge Dismisses Santa Monica Minority Voting-Rights Lawsuit, a Turning Point in a Decade-Long Legal Fight
SANTA MONICA, California — A voting-rights lawsuit in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, that has run for about a decade reached a major judicial turn on November 7. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Crowley granted the city's motion to dismiss, a significant setback for the long-running dispute over the city's council election system. The judge directed city attorneys to prepare a formal written order for the plaintiffs' counsel to review, leaving an appeal an open question.
The case was first filed in 2016 by plaintiffs including the Pico Neighborhood Association and local resident Maria Loya, who have long challenged Santa Monica's at-large election system as potentially diluting the political representation of some minority communities. Under at-large elections, all eligible voters vote for every council member rather than choosing representatives by district. District-election advocates argue that when ethnic populations are unevenly distributed, at-large voting can make it hard for smaller communities to elect their preferred candidates; defenders of the at-large system say council members should answer to the whole city and that district elections can divide communities politically.
The dispute centers on the California Voting Rights Act, which aims in part to keep election systems from unreasonably diluting the voting power of protected groups. The case has passed through multiple levels of courts and become a landmark in California local-election disputes, with implications for other Los Angeles County cities. Minority communities, including Chinese, Latino and other Asian American residents, have paid growing attention to representation on city councils, school boards and water district boards in recent years.
来源：Santa Monica Daily Press
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图片来源：图：圣塔莫尼卡市政厅。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0。 / Photo: Santa Monica City Hall. Via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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