Ex-Candidate Drops Voting Rights Suit : Oxnard: Juan Soria says he can’t afford to press his action for district elections. He wants to increase minority representation on the City Council.

An unsuccessful mayoral candidate has withdrawn his voting rights lawsuit aimed at forcing Oxnard to pick City Council members by district instead of in citywide elections.

Juan Soria, who filed the lawsuit last year in hopes of increasing minority representation on the council, said Friday that he lacked the money to prepare a solid case in time for a trial scheduled June 18 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

“We don’t have the bucks that the city has been spending like crazy to defend this lawsuit,” Soria said. “And we don’t want to take a chance that this lawsuit could create bad law for Latino communities up and down the state of California.”

John E. McDermott, a Los Angeles attorney representing Oxnard, said the suit was dropped because Soria did not have a valid case.

“I believe the suit was withdrawn because, after analyzing the data, the plaintiff concluded he was unable to meet the factual requirements that have to be shown in order to prevail under Section Two of the Voting Rights Act.”

Districting lawsuits have become common in California since a 1989 decision forced the city of Watsonville to drop its at-large election system and divide the city into voting districts.

Latino activists and civil rights attorneys contend that at-large systems dilute minority voting strength. But many incumbents and other districting opponents argue that cutting up smaller cities leads to pork-barrel politics and poor overall representation.

To prevail in lawsuits, districting advocates must prove that the at-large election system is directly responsible for excluding minorities from political representation.

In Oxnard, McDermott said, the city’s electoral system clearly does not prevent minorities from winning elections.

“What we have here is an electoral history of Hispanic candidates who are supported by Hispanic voters getting elected,” he said.

McDermott mentioned Manuel Lopez, the only Latino on the council, as an example of this success. Sal Sanchez, who was elected twice to the City Council in the 1960s, and Reginald Vela, who was elected twice in the 1940s, are other examples, McDermott said.

Since 1980, 16 of 30 minority candidates were successful in City Council, city clerk and city treasurer elections, McDermott said.

“I think this is very different than a case like Watsonville . . .,” McDermott said. Although the Santa Cruz County town is about half Latino, Latino candidates lost in nine runs for council seats between 1971 and 1985.

Oxnard Latinos are already represented nearly in proportion to their voting strength since Lopez holds one of the five council seats, McDermott said.

While Latinos make up more than half of Oxnard’s population, they represent only 25% of the electorate because many of them are not registered to vote, McDermott said.

And the groups of Latinos who do vote en masse tend to live in predominantly white neighborhoods, McDermott said.

“Districting does not increase voter participation. Education and social standing does,” McDermott said.

Soria said he will continue his research and refile the lawsuit when he gathers enough evidence and resources to be successful.

“The community has not given up. We lost a battle, but the war is far from over,” he said.