-Press Release-
For Immediate Release
August 30, 2007
Contact: Sue Rush
626-939-8433

COURT SUPPORTS CITY OF WEST COVINA AND REJECTS LAWSUIT OVER REDISTRICTING INITIATIVE
RULING AFFIRMS THE CITY OF WEST COVINA'S REJECTION OF AN INITIATIVE PETITION WHICH SOUGHT TO REDISTRICT THE CITY'S ELECTION DISTRICTS

Frederick Sykes v. City of West Covina, et al. (LA County Superior Ct. Case No. BS110805)

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WEST COVINA, CA - Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe dismissed a lawsuit today filed by the supporter of a failed ballot initiative to establish a multi-district election process for the City of West Covina. The lawsuit, filed this morning by an initiative supporter, Frederick Sykes, was dismissed on the ground that the signature pages on the initiative petition did not contain the legally required information necessary to protect the public from being misled. As a result, the initiative will not appear on the November 6, 2007 ballot.

The initiative sought to modify the City of West Covina's election process by establishing five separate voting districts, defined according to specific boundaries proposed by the proponents. A petition in support of the initiative was submitted to the City Clerk on August 7, 2007, and was rejected on August 10, 2007 due to numerous defects, the most significant of which was the petition's failure to provide a summary of the initiative on the top of each page signed by supporters, as is legally required. The lawsuit alleged that this was an improper basis to reject the petition, and sought an order requiring the City Clerk to process the petition so the initiative could appear on the ballot for the November 6, 2007 election.

Judge Yaffe rejected Mr. Sykes allegations, and upheld the City's actions in total. Citing long-standing principals of election law, Judge Yaffe noted that requiring each petition signature page to include a summary of the initiative is legally necessary in order to guard against fraud and prevent misleading of the public. Such requirements are necessary so that petition signers who don't read the entire text of an initiative will nevertheless be sufficiently informed as to what they are signing. Because the petition for the proposed initiative did not have the summary printed on the signature page, Judge Yaffe found there was a potential for misleading the public in the petition circulation process.

The petition was also rejected on the ground that it failed to include the redistricting map included in the initiative that identified the boundaries of the proposed new Councilmember districts. By failing to include the map in the petition, signers could not easily determine the proposed boundaries, leading to the same potential for fraud and misinformation. Judge Yaffe rejected the lawsuit before even considering this defect in the petition because the other defects were sufficient enough to dismiss the case.

The decision by the court today reaffirms the action taken by the West Covina's City Clerk's Office to reject the petition filed and to insure that no further cost to the taxpayers will occur in processing this legally defective petition.

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