Judge Stops Count of Votes on Barricades

A U.S. District Court judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order stopping Santa Ana from opening or counting ballots in a neighborhood election in which some residents were allowed to decide whether the city should install traffic barriers.

The ruling by Judge Cormac J. Carney will stop the city from tabulating results of 347 mail-in ballots from residents in the French Park area of Santa Ana. The city was to tabulate the ballots after today’s deadline for their return.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against three Santa Ana officials Wednesday, alleging that the election usurps the voting rights of residents of large apartment complexes because only one vote was given to all of the residents of any multiple-family dwelling with more than four units.

The lawsuit asked that the vote be halted because it favored French Park, a community of single-family homes on one side of the barriers, over French Court, made up mostly of Latino apartment dwellers on the other side.

The civil liberties group argued that 82% of the French Park households received a ballot compared to 11% of the French Court households, because many are multiple-family dwellings with more than four units.

The bulk of the French Court ballots went to landlords or association boards.

The city contends that the vote is a nonbinding poll, so no election rights were violated. City Manager Dave Ream said Wednesday that the election was set up to prevent large complexes from skewing the community poll.

Neither he nor other city officials returned calls for comment on Thursday’s ruling.

The District Court judge wrote that two Santa Ana residents represented by the ACLU showed “a violation of their constitutionally protected right to vote,” and that without a restraining order, “they will suffer substantial and irreparable injury.”

ACLU managing attorney Peter Elaisberg called Carney’s decision “a big victory for us. ... The judge saw this was a timely issue and moved appropriately. I hope this ruling is a sign that he wouldn’t rule against us down the line. The city should realize it set up a system that is patently unfair and unconstitutional, and they should go back to the drawing board.”

A preliminary injunction, which lasts until a final decision in the case, could be issued after a hearing on Aug. 1, at which time city officials and the ACLU are scheduled to present their arguments.

The barriers were installed on Spurgeon and French streets and Washington Avenue after a similar vote in 2000 even though police and school officials said they posed public safety risks.

A traffic diverter prevents traffic from entering French Park on Wellington Avenue. The idea was to have a City Council panel monitor traffic, then take another poll to determine whether the barriers should remain.

One of the two resident plaintiffs, Wade Little, a French Court condominium resident, said that he is “thrilled” by the judge’s decision. “We’ve been trying to point out that we don’t think this [way of balloting] is fair, but no one in City Hall would pay attention. There was never any reaction,” he said.

“Finally a federal judge at least smells there is something wrong.”