Huntington Beach’s grip as Orange County’s conservative stronghold is under threat from a new court ruling. But this isn’t the first time the attorney and one of the plaintiffs have led the charge to reshape a conservative city. In late June, Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin tentatively ruled that the city must switch to ranked-choice voting, undoing the “at-large” system in which voters in Huntington Beach have always cast ballots. The decision came after a lawsuit brought by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and local Huntington Beach resident Victor Valladares. Attorney Kevin Shenkman argued that the current system makes it harder for Latino voters to elect candidates of their choice. Under Huntington Beach’s longtime at-large system, every voter gets to weigh-in on all open council seats, and the top vote-getters win no matter where they live in the city. Ranked-choice voting flips that script. Voters rank candidates by preference. If nobody clears a majority on first choices, the last-place finisher gets dropped and votes get redistributed until someone does, all while preserving the citywide at-large setup the charter demands. But Shenkman and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project’s lawsuits alleging violations of the California Voting Rights Act, a 2001 state law designed to make it easier for minorities to challenge at-large elections they say dilute their voting power, are nothing new in the state. In the Golden State, these shifts from at-large to district or ranked-choice voting often end up favoring Democrats, as it has held a Democrat supermajority for over 15 years. Due to the system, targeted districts are created where growing Latino and other minority populations, who have leaned Democrat, can more easily elect preferred candidates. The Lore Behind the Attorney Shenkman, who runs Shenkman & Hughes PC with his wife, has become one of the most active lawyers wielding the California Voting Rights Act to challenge at-large election systems across the state. The Malibu attorney was born and raised in Detroit. He earned his undergraduate degree from Rice University and his law degree from Columbia University. After law school, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at major firms including Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Morrison & Foerster, and Hennigan Bennett & Dorman. In 2011, Shenkman started his own firm. That same year, he reportedly received a call from Darren Parker, the former chairman of the California Democratic Party’s Black Caucus. Parker asked Shenkman about using the act to challenge at-large systems, thus launching the Malibu attorney into a career now known for it. Since then, Shenkman has sent hundreds of demand letters to cities, school districts, and special districts, threatening voting rights act lawsuits unless they switch from at-large to district-based or alternative elections. He has been involved in dozens of lawsuits and settlements throughout California. Notably, repeated targets involving Shenkman have included conservative-leaning areas such as San Juan Capistrano, Cypress, Palmdale, Rancho Cucamonga, and Highland. However, Shenkman isn’t a lone wolf in using the act against conservative areas. While he’s the go-to litigator, the attorney is often representing the SVREP, making the duo’s technique something of a specialty across California. A Nonprofit Shaping Elections Founded in 1974 in San Antonio, Texas, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project was created by Chicano movement activist William C. “Willie” Velásquez. Notably, Velásquez had ties with now-disgraced César Chávez, leaving graduate school to organize the United Farm Workers. The organization emerged from earlier voter efforts known as the Citizens’ Voter Research and Education Project, positioning itself as a nonpartisan group that focuses on “empowering Latinos and other minorities” through registration, education, leadership training, get-out-the-vote efforts, and voting rights litigation. The group later expanded to multiple Southwestern states, claiming credit for registering millions of Latinos, training over 150,000 leaders, and winning hundreds of voting rights lawsuits, often with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Moving into other Southwest states, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project has a strong presence within California, holding an office in the state. That California footprint is where the project’s work gets pointed. Around 2016, the group began teaming up with Shenkman as its primary outside counsel, forming a potent duo on California Voting Rights Act cases. Throughout the cases, Shenkman sends the letters and litigates, while the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project supplies the organizational muscle and plaintiff standing. Some of their large cases targeting conservative areas include San Juan Capistrano, which, around 2018, settled with $293,000 in fees to the plaintiffs’ side and forced the city to switch from at-large voting to district elections. In Highland, Shenkman and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project won their case against the city around 2016, with the plaintiffs not only reportedly recovering approximately $1.3 million but forcing the city to switch its at-large voting to district-based elections. Rancho Cucamonga had the same outcome of switching from at-large voting to districts around 2016–2017, with the plaintiffs reportedly recovering an estimated $1.37 million in fees.  Additionally, in Cypress, Shenkman sent a demand letter on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, filing a lawsuit arguing that the system diluted the voting power of Asian Americans in the area. The city eventually settled in 2024, agreeing to move to district elections and paying the plaintiffs $835,000. These cases throughout the state don’t come cheap for taxpayers though, as they help fuel the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project’s operations. The Money While Shenkman racks up large fee awards and settlements, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project runs on a steady stream of grants from progressive and Democrat-aligned sources that keep the machine humming across California. The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project operates with a relatively modest annual budget, bringing in around $700,000 in recent years. But it’s overwhelmingly funded by contributions and grants. According to the organization’s reports, there is almost no program service revenue, with nearly everything coming from donors and foundations. That money then pays for registration drives, leadership training, litigation support, and the staff that backs Shenkman’s cases. Key funders include the California Community Foundation, with hundreds of thousands flowing in recent years—one record summary, for example, showed a $281,000 funding from the group. Along with the foundation, AltaMed Health Services, an LA-based health equity organization, often grants in the six figures, including $175,000 in a recent year. Other environmental players include the Earth Day Network and the League of Conservation Voters. Historical support has also come from big progressive names like the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Foundation, according to the Texas State Historical Association. The broader network the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project works with is also where the Democrat money sharpens. The organization runs within the same Los Angeles/Southern California progressive philanthropy circles that fund health equity, racial justice, and civic engagement work. While direct grants from The California Endowment to the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project don’t show up prominently, the endowment pours millions into aligned causes and organizations that intersect with SVREP’s goals, such as “People Power” initiatives, Latino community organizing, and efforts that boost turnout in growing demographic areas. The endowment’s ecosystem, along with groups like the California Community Foundation, creates a reliable pipeline for this kind of work. The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project did not respond to a request for comment. Back to Huntington Beach The tentative ruling from Griffin in Huntington Beach sparked backlash amongst conservatives in the area, including the city’s former mayor, Gracey Van Der Mark, who is currently running for the California State Assembly. “This is a problem that’s being created in a city where we don’t have a problem,” Van Der Mark said. “The people who filed the lawsuit to try to turn our city into districts are simply upset that they were not able to get elected for whatever reason, so they’re trying to change the whole system so that they have a better chance,” she added. “That’s not democracy.” When asked about the intent of the plaintiffs in the case, Van Der Mark denied any disparity occurring in the city. The state Assembly candidate noted how the lawsuit was filed while she was the mayor of the city, noting she’s Latina. “So, they’re saying Latinos don’t have representation when it’s a Latina who was representing the entire city,” she said. “There’s absolutely no basis for their claims. The bottom line is they’re trying to district cities so they can have the outcome they want instead of what the voters voted on, what they decided.” “As a Latina who came from a low-income community, single mom, homeless, who was on government aid, no one can tell me that people like me can’t succeed in this city when I was the mayor of this city,” Van Der Mark continued. “So, it’s actually insulting and racist for them to even think. And you know, the fact that they completely disregarded the fact that I’m a Latina as the mayor of this city, it’s insulting.” Huntington Beach’s current city attorney, Michael Vigliotta, had little to say about the ruling, highlighting how it was a tentative decision. Vigliotta said that he would be able to further comment following a final ruling. However, Shenkman said that he was not only “pleased” with Griffin’s “thoughtful and well-reasoned decision,” but looks forward to a Huntington Beach Council “that actually represents all HB residents.” “It is precisely because the current city council doesn’t represent all HB residents and rather are more interested in Fox News appearances and showing fealty to an intensely racist dictator … that they have chosen to fight against the voting rights of HB residents,” Shenkman said. “The remaining question now is, in the words of Governor [Gavin] Newsom, are they tired of losing yet?” But when asked to address initial questions about his connection to the SVREP, developing California Voting Rights Act cases, and potential concerns regarding the lawsuits, Shenkman did not respond. Even if the rank-choice voting is given the full greenlight in Huntington Beach, Orange County Voter of Registrar Bob Page told the Voice of OC in June that he does not currently have a way to run rank-choice voting elections.