A Very Special Election in Watsonville : Politics: The balloting caps a long battle by Latinos for representation on the City Council. Their chances of taking at least two seats appear good.

Despite a devastating earthquake and official predictions of average turnout, voters in Watsonville will head to the polls today in a historic election that caps a long battle by Latinos for representation in local affairs.

“The Watsonville decision has provided a beacon of hope for minority representation,” said Joaquin Avila, a Fremont attorney who engineered the suit leading to today’s election.

“It is now on the front burner.”

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opened the way for the election last year by holding that Watsonville’s old system of at-large elections prevented Latinos from winning seats on the seven-member City Council.

Although the Santa Cruz County town is roughly half Latino, Latino candidates lost in nine separate runs for council seats between 1971 and 1985. Under court order to remedy the situation, city officials devised a system of seven districts.

Latinos are running in four of the districts today. In at least two of the districts, where Latino voter percentages are high, their chances of victory appear to be good.

Under the plan, all incumbents were forced to face election. Only three of the seven incumbents filed for reelection on the reconstituted council.

One of those incumbents is Tony Campos, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and the only Latino councilman. He won his seat in 1987, but is in a tough fight against incumbent Mayor Betty Murphy.

Opposition runs deep to the changes. Mayor Murphy, for one, fears that the new council members will devote most of their energies to their districts at the expense of citywide needs.

“I was hoping the day would come that nationality wouldn’t matter,” she said.

Murphy added that she is bothered that there will be “so many new members on the council,” and noted: “Politics is a learning procedure, and I think it is unfortunate that the whole council is running at one time.”

But Avila predicted that Watsonville is only the start. Together with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Southwest Voter Registration and Educational Project and private law firms, Avila anticipates filing 20 voting rights suits in the next year in California.

He said suits are being readied against municipalities in Santa Clara, Tulare, Kern and Ventura counties. Plaintiffs have lost suits in three places--Pomona, Chula Vista and Stockton. But other local officials have voluntarily changed their procedures. And in Salinas, the city adopted a district system in 1988 and a Latino was elected last June.

Watsonville City Clerk Lorraine Washington was forced to postpone the election for a month after the Oct. 17 earthquake forced the closure of polling places and displaced poll workers.

Citing lingering effects of the quake, she said she anticipated only a 30% turnout among the farm town’s 10,000 registered voters. But, indicating more interest among Latinos, she said, a record 900 absentee votes have been cast. Most came from two heavily Latino districts near downtown.

“I see a lot of Latinos in absentee voter lists,” Washington said.