Under pressure by pending lawsuit, Windsor leaders switch to district elections

Months of heated debate over how to best divide Windsor into voting districts came to a bitter end on Wednesday night as the Town Council abandoned elections by the entire town and approved four new electoral districts, 24 hours before the municipality would have been vulnerable to a lawsuit claiming Latino voters were disenfranchised.

Council member Sam Salmon was the lone holdout, while the four other council members voted to switch to district electons for council seats and retain an at-large election for mayor. Starting in 2020, Windsor residents will vote under the new election system.

The move by Sonoma County’s fourth-largest municipality to district elections began with a letter in October from a Southern California lawyer who threatened legal action if Windsor didn’t alter its 25-year-old election system.

The letter sent by attorney Kevin Shenkman of the Malibu law firm Shenkman and Hughes alleged that the town was violating the California Voting Rights Act. Shenkman contended that Windsor’s at-large elections hampered the ability of the town’s minority voters to elect candidates of their choice.

The lawyer’s move forced Windsor’s Town Council into a hasty process to devise a plan for the town of 27,000 to switch to district elections within 120 days or face a lawsuit. Two years ago, the same lawyer instigated similar election shifts by the city of Santa Rosa and the city’s public school system. They are among more than 100 public entities in California that switched election systems under the threat of litigation by attorney Shenkman.

“This whole process has been full of compromise,” Councilwoman Deb Fudge said. “There is nothing perfect in any of this.”

Council members didn’t discuss the matter Wednesday before voting, but had held several previous meetings to hear from residents. On March 20, council members and a handful of residents said they were disappointed with the redistricting process.

Mayor Dominic Foppoli said at the time that the newly drawn voting districts were not perfect, but town officials had run out of time.

“We were forced into this, but we have to move forward,” Foppoli said.

Council members and consultants from San Francisco-based Q2 Data and Research labored during hourslong meetings since December to painstakingly draw four districts that met strict criteria set forth by the state’s Voting Rights Act.

The decision to switch the town’s election system did not come peacefully or easily to council members who originally discussed fighting back against Shenkman’s claims of voter disenfranchisement.

“It is a slap in the face to imply we don’t care about the larger community,” Councilman Bruce Okrepkie said previously.

Many took issue with Shenkman’s claim that Windsor never had a Latino council member. Former councilman Mark Millan shared his birth certificate last year showing that his family is from Mexico, the mayor said.

Weeks after the lawyer’s threatening letter, Councilwoman Esther Lemus was elected in November, becoming the first Latina to serve on the Town Council.

Windsor’s attorney Robin Donoghue warned council members that other cities that have challenged Shenkman all have lost in court, spending millions of dollars on legal fees in the process.

Unwilling to risk that chance, Windsor forged ahead in making the switch.

In casting the only opposing vote Wednesday, Salmon’s concern was that District A in northwest Windsor, the area with the largest Latino population in the city, is not going to be contested in the 2020 elections.

“The most disadvantaged of the four districts is not voting first, why is that?” Salmon said.

Resident Betsy Mallace agreed with Salmon and said she was worried that by not allowing the district with the biggest Latino stronghold to vote first it could look like Windsor is diluting the votes of minority residents.

“We were pushed into doing this and we need to make the best of the situation,” Mallace said. “But it doesn’t seem we are following the spirit of the law by disadvantaging those in these new districts.”

You can reach Staff Writer Alexandria Bordas at 707-521-5337 or alexandria.bordas@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CrossingBordas.