MISSION VIEJO, Calif.—A Mission Viejo resident filed a lawsuit on April 7 against the city arguing that all five of its city council seats should be up for a vote in November.
At issue is a complicated failed attempt by the city to comply with a 2018 lawsuit settlement to make its elections decided by cumulative voting, meaning city voters would cast up to five ballots for the city’s five council seats.
The new voting model was initially to have started in 2020. But after having difficulty getting approval from the state to implement it, the goal became 2022.
Either timeline resulted in changing the terms of councilors elected in 2018 and 2020 to be for two years only, instead of the usual four-year terms.
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